THE 
PROPHETIC  MOVEMENT 
IN  ISRAEL 

ALBERT  C.  KNUDSON 


JUL  80  1921 


Division    -D  o  i  o  0-b 


Section 


OTHER  BOOKS  BY  PROFESSOR  KNUDSON 

THE  BfiACON  LIGHTS  OF  PROPHECY 

THE  RELIGIOUS  TEACHING  OF  THE 
OLD  TESTAMENT 


The  Prophetic 
Movement  in  Israel 


By  y 

ALBERT  C.  kNUDS 

Professor  in  Boston  University  School  of  Theology 


JUL  30 1921 


?^OmM  Sttt^ 


THE    METHODIST   BOOK    CONCERN 


NEW  YORK 


CINCINNATI 


Copyright,  192 1,  by 
ALBERT  C.  KNUDSON 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


The  Bible  text  used  in  this  voliime  is  taken  from  the  American  Standard 
edition  of  the  Revised  Bible,  copyright,  1901,  by  Thomas  Nelson  &  Sons,  and 
is  used  by  permission. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Concerning  this  Textbook 7 

I.     Prophecy  as  an  Institution 11 

II.     The  Preliterary  Prophets 27 

III.  The  Eighth-Century  Prophets 41 

IV.  The     Prophets     of     the     Babylonian 

Period 55    - 

V.     The  Postexilic  Prophets 7o__ 

VI.     Prophecy  and  the  Nation 87 

VII.     Prophecy  and  Morality 103 

VIII.     Prophecy  and  Personal  Religious  Ex- 
perience      123 

IX.     Prophecy  and  the  World 140 

X.    Prophecy  and  the  Future 157 


CONCERNING  THIS  TEXTBOOK 

The  Prophetic  Movement  in  Israel  is  one  of  a 
group  of  textbooks  intended  primarily  for  the  use  of 
training  classes  of  teachers  or  prospective  teachers. 
While  it  will  probably  find  its  largest  use  as  a  text- 
book in  training  for  leadership  and  teaching,  it  is 
believed  that  it  will  be  found  to  be  an  admirable 
course  for  Sunday-school  classes  of  young  people 
and  adults  who  desire  a  more  systematic  study  of 
parts  of  the  Old  Testament  than  is  afforded  by  the 
Improved  Uniform  Lessons.  In  common  with  other 
training  textbooks  this  book  will  also  be  found  to 
meet  the  needs  of  some  college  classes.  The  plan 
of  the  book  is  clear  and  simple.  In  style  it  is  read- 
able and  inspiring. 

The  first  five  chapters  present  a  brief  summary 
of  the  history  of  the  prophetic  movement  in  Old 
Testament  times.  Following  an  introductory  study 
of  prophecy  as  an  institution,  and  the  distinctive 
characteristics  of  the  prophets  as  compared  with  wise 
men  and  priests,  the  author  in  successive  studies  in- 
troduces the  student  to  the  pre-literary  prophets,  the 
prophets  of  the  eighth  century,  those  of  the  Babylon- 
ian period  and  finally  the  postexilic  prophets.     The 

7 


CONCERNING  THIS  TEXT  BOOK 

chief  characteristics  of  the  Hfe  and  work  of  the  out- 
standing men  composing  each  of  these  groups  are  set 
forth  together  with  the  conditions  under  which  each 
individual  prophet  and  group  contributed  to  the  life 
and  religion  of  the  Hebrew  people. 

Chapters  VI  to  X  set  forth  in  systematic  form  the 
relation  of  prophecy  to  the  nation  and  its  contribu- 
tion to  religious  ideas  and  ideals.  It  is  in  this  part 
of  the  book  that  the  author  makes  a  unique  and  sig- 
nificant contribution  to  the  literature  dealing  with 
prophecy  and  the  prophets.  Chapter  VI  deals  with 
the  prophetic  attitude  toward  the  nation  and  the 
prophetic  teaching  concerning  it.  Chapter  VII,  on 
Prophecy  and  Morality,  sets  forth  the  great  service 
of  the  prophets  in  moralizing  the  religion  of  Israel, 
and  in  establishing  forever  the  righteous  character  of 
Jehovah  and  his  inexorable  demand  for  righteous- 
ness in  his  people.  Next  the  author  points  out  how 
prophecy,  concerned  primarily  with  the  nation  and 
its  mission,  came  to  develop  a  doctrine  of  the  inner 
life,  also  setting  forth  the  essential  elements  in  that 
doctrine.  Chapter  IX  describes  the  contribution 
of  the  prophets  to  the  development  of  a  world  reli- 
gion. The  final  chapter  is  concerned  with  prophecy 
and  the  future,  particularly  the  Messianic  hope,  the 
judgment,  and  the  Messiah. 

There  are  few  more  Important  aspects  of  religious 
life  and  belief  than  those  with  which  this  book  deals. 

8 


CONCERNING  THIS  TEXT  BOOK 

It  would  be  impossible  for  the  religious  teacher  ta 
study  the  book  carefully  without  a  clarification  of 
ideas  concerning  many  of  the  fundamentals  of  the 
Christian  faith.  Because  of  its  necessary  limitations 
as  a  brief  course  it  is  unavoidably  incomplete.  The 
author  expressly  states  that  he  is  obliged  to  leave  un- 
touched wide  areas  of  prophetic  thought  and  influ- 
ence. Notwithstanding  this  limitation,  the  student 
is  certain  to  gain  a  truer  conception  of  prophecy  as  a 
whole,  and  a  clearer  understanding  of  the  service  of 
the  prophets  both  to  their  own  day  and  to  all  time. 

Most  of  our  study  of  the  Old  Testament  in  the 
Sunday  school  has  concerned  itself  with  particular 
messages  of  individual  prophets  without  relation  to 
prophecy  as  an  institution  or  to  the  mission  of  the 
prophets  as  they  themselves  conceived  it.  This  study 
is  of  an  entirely  different  kind.  It  is  concerned  with 
the  prophetic  movement  as  a  unity  and  with  the  part 
of  the  prophets  as  a  class  in  a  development  of  that 
body  of  ideals  and  beliefs  which  is  our  inheritance  as 
Christians  from  the  Old  Testament. 

The  Editors. 


CHAPTER  I 
PROPHECY  AS  AN  INSTITUTION 

Prophecy  was  a  recognized  institution  in  Israel. 
It  was  not  simply  an  office  to  which  a  few  persons 
were  called;  it  was  an  established  order,  somewhat 
akin  to  that  of  the  priesthood.  The  priests,  prophets, 
and  "wise  men"  formed  in  a  sense  the  three  learned 
professions  of  the  ancient  Hebrews.  To  them  the 
people  went  for  instruction  and  guidance  both  in  pub- 
lic and  private  affairs  (Jer.  i8.  i8;  Ezek.  7.  26). 
All  three  classes  also  made  important  contributions 
to  the  literature  of  the  Old  Testament.  They  thus 
constituted  the  main  channels  through  which  God 
revealed  himself  to  Israel.  Each  of  these  classes 
had  its  own  field,  and  yet  they  stood  in  a  certain  re- 
lation to  each  other,  so  that  to  understand  the  one 
we  need  to  know  something  about  the  other  two. 
It  will  therefore  help  us  in  our  study  of  the  prophets 
and  their  distinctive  character  if  a  brief  account  is 
first  given  of  the  work  of  the  "wise  men'*  and  the 
priests. 

"Wise  men.*' — It  was  the  function  of  the  "wise 
men"  to  give  counsel — to  point  out  the  best  course 
to  be  followed  in  any  particular  case.    Their  "wis- 

II 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

dom"  in  the  earlier  period  of  Israel's  history  seems 
to  have  taken  the  form  chiefly  of  cleverness  or 
shrewdness  (i  Kings  3.  16-28;  10.  i-io)  ;  in  later 
times  it  appears  for  the  most  part  as  moral  admoni- 
tion given  especially  to  the  young  (compare  Prov. 
1-8) .  Whether  the  representatives  of  this  movement 
were  in  any  way  organized,  we  do  not  know.  They 
are  first  mentioned  as  a  distinct  class  in  Jer.  18.  18, 
but  they  no  doubt  existed  much  earlier  as  a  more 
or  less  clearly  defined  group.  They  were  not,  how- 
ever, a  caste,  as  were  the  priests,  nor  did  they  form 
an  order  in  the  same  sense  as  did  the  prophets.  It 
was  not  birth  nor  a  divine  call  that  made  a  person  a 
"wise  man,"  or  sage.  The  one  requisite  for  admis- 
sion to  the  class  was  natural  ability,  developed  by 
education  and  experience;  and  this  qualification 
might  appear  in  any  social  group,  in  any  tribe,  and 
in  either  sex.  It  happens,  for  instance,  that  the  first 
"wise  man"  mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament  was  a 
woman  (2  Sam.  14.  1-24),  and  so  also  was  the 
second  (2  Sam.  20.  16-22).  In  general  the  class 
w^as  no  doubt  made  up  of  those  of  mature  age,  since 
only  they,  as  a  rule,  had  the  requisite  experience. 

The  outstanding  representative  of  the  class  was 
Solomon,  but  there  were  other  sages  in  Israel,  of 
even  greater  significance  in  the  field  of  literature, 
whose  names  have  not  come  down  to  us,  such  as  the 
author  of  the  book  of  Job.     It  is  this  book  and  the 

12 


PROPHECY  AS  AN  INSTITUTION 

book  of  Proverbs  and  that  of  Ecclesiastes  which 
give  us  the  best  insight  into  the  nature  and  the  work 
of  the  *'wise  men."  From  these  books  we  learn 
that  the  "wise  men,"  at  least  in  the  period  after  the 
Exile  (b.  c.  538-150),  were  primarily  concerned 
with  the  problems  of  the  home  and  the  individual. 
In  the  nation  as  such  and  in  sacrificial  worship  they 
seem  not  to  have  taken  an  active  interest.  The  prob- 
lems that  appealed  to  them  were  the  common  prob- 
lems of  mankind  as  a  whole.  What  they  sought  to 
do  was  to  show  men,  and  particularly  the  young,  the 
best  way  of  getting  on  in  the  world.  Honesty,  they 
urged,  is  the  best  policy.  The  profounder  spirits 
among  them  naturally  went  deeper  and  discussed 
such  perplexing  questions  as  that  of  the  divine 
Providence.  In  dealing  with  these  topics  the  "wise 
men"  made  no  claim  to  special  inspiration.  They 
accepted  as  a  matter  of  course  the  ethical  teaching 
of  the  prophets  and  applied  it  as  best  they  could  to 
the  concrete  cases  brought  before  them.  But  for 
themselves  they  laid  claim  to  no  authority  other  than 
that  to  which  their  wisdom  entitled  them.  They 
were  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term  the  humanists  of 
Israel. 

Priests.— The  priests  figured  much  more  promi- 
nently in  Old  Testament  history  than  did  the  "wise 
men."  Though,  like  the  latter,  they  exercised  their 
greatest  influence  in  the  postexilic  period,  they  were 

13 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

from  the  time  of  Moses  on  the  official  representa- 
tives of  the  national  religion  and  as  such  formed  a 
potent  factor  in  the  life  of  the  people.  Their  special 
province  was  the  "law."  To  declare  and  interpret  it 
was  their  primary  task,  as  it  was  that  of  the  "wise 
men"  to  give  counsel.  But  the  law  among  the 
Hebrews  had  a  double  character:  it  was  both  civil 
and  ecclesiastical.  It  had  to  do  with  the  administra- 
tion of  justice  and  also  with  the  regulation  of  public 
worship.  The  result  was  that  the  priests  had  a  two- 
fold function — one  judicial  and  the  other  sacrificial. 
Cases  were  brought  before  them  for  judgment,  and 
they  rendered  decision  according  to  the  divine  will  as 
revealed  to  them  by  means  of  the  priestly  oracle 
(Exod.  22.  9;  I  Sam.  14.  18-20,  41,  42).  In  this 
field  they  shared  their  function  with  the  elders  or 
civil  judges.  But  in  the  field  of  public  worship  their 
function  was  exclusive.  Occasionally  in  earlier 
times  and  under  special  circumstances  others  than 
priests  offered  sacrifices  (Judg.  6.  19-27;  13.  19-23; 
I  Sam.  13.  8  ff.;  14.  33-35;  2  Sam.  6.  13,  17  f.)  ; 
but  the  later  written  law  confined  this  prerogative  to 
the  priests.  In  earlier  times  also  men  from  different 
tribes  occasionally  were  consecrated  priests  (Judg. 
17.  5).  But  the  written  law  limited  the  priesthood 
to  the  tribe  of  Levi  and  more  particularly  to  the 
house  of  Aaron.  It  was  birth  that  thus  deter- 
mined one's  entrance  into  the  priestly  class  and  also 

14 


PROPHECY  AS  AN  INSTITUTION 

one's  station  in  it — whether  one  was  to  be  a  mere 
Levite,  a  servant  of  the  priest,  or  a  priest  proper,  or 
high  priest. 

In  view  of  the  hereditary  character  of  their  office 
the  priests  were  naturally  conservative.  They  were 
interested  in  maintaining  the  privileges  of  their  own 
class.  In  view  also  of  the  external  and  formal 
character  of  their  duties  they  naturally  tended  to 
lay  stress  upon  the  past,  and  they  were  no  doubt  sin- 
cerely convinced  that  the  preservation  of  the  ancient 
rites  and  customs  was  essential  to  the  welfare  of  the 
community  and  state.  Still,  they  were  by  no  means 
immune  to  new  influences.  They  gradually- 
responded,  as  did  the  "wise  men/'  to  the  higher 
teaching  of  the  prophets  and  sought,  in  a  measure 
at  least,  to  bring  their  law  and  practice  into  harmony 
with  it.  But  on  the  whole  they  represented  the  tradi- 
tional and  nationalistic  spirit. 

The  distinctive  character  of  the  prophet. — As 
"counsel"  expressed  the  function  of  the  "wise  man," 
and  "law"  that  of  the  priests,  so  "word"  was  used  to 
designate  the  characteristic  activity  of  the  prophet. 
It  was  the  mission  of  the  prophet  to  communicate 
to  Israel  the  divine  word.  It  has  been  commonly 
assumed  that  the  prophetic  word  referred  necessarily 
to  the  future,  and  prophecy  has  consequently  been 
identified  with  prediction.  At  first  etymology  seems 
to  support  this  view.    The  latter  part  of  the  word 

15 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

"^'prophecy"  is  derived  from  a  Greek  verb  meaning 
"to  speak,"  and  the  prefix  "pro"  usually  means  "be- 
fore" or  "beforehand,"  as  in  such  words  as  "pro- 
cession" and  "progress."  A  prophet,  therefore, 
would  seem  to  be  simply  a  foreteller.  This,  how- 
ever, is  a  mistake.  The  prefix  "pro"  in  "prophet" 
means  "instead  of,"  as  in  such  a  word  as  "pro- 
noun." Just,  then,  as  a  pronoun  is  a  word  used 
instead  of  a  noun,  so  a  prophet  was  one  who  spoke  in 
God's  stead.  That  this  was  the  Hebrew  conception 
of  a  prophet  is  evident  from  Exod.  7.  i,  where 
Jehovah  says  to  Moses  that  he  is  to  be  as  God  to 
Pharaoh,  and  Aaron  his  brother  is  to  be  his 
^'prophet" — that  is,  his  spokesman.  No  doubt  the 
word  of  the  prophet  did  often  refer  to  the  future, 
and  no  conception  of  prophecy  would  be  adequate 
which  omitted  this  factor.  But  the  primary  and  dis- 
tinctive element  in  prophecy  was  not  prediction  but 
mediation  between  God  and  man.  What  has  given 
to  Hebrew  prophecy  its  extraordinary  significance 
is  the  fact  not  that  the  prophets  occasionally  foretold 
future  events,  but  that  they  revealed  to  men  those 
great  truths  relative  to  the  divine  character  and  pur- 
pose which  still  form  the  basis  and  substance  of  our 
faith.  So  far  as  their  work  as  a  whole  was  con- 
cerned, they  were  preachers  rather  than  predicters. 
It  is  this  fact  more  than  anything  else  which  dis- 
tinguishes   the    Hebrew    prophets    from     heathen 

16 


PROPHECY  AS  AN  INSTITUTION 

diviners.  The  latter  fell  into  trances,  had  visions, 
and  at  times  predicted  future  events.  But  their 
oracles  were  miscellaneous  in  character.  They  dealt 
for  the  most  part  with  subjects  of  a  secular  and  prac- 
tical nature,  such  as  the  erection  of  houses,  jour- 
neys, sicknesses,  marriages,  business  enterprises, 
wars.  There  was  in  them  no  underlying  unity  of 
thought,  no  constructive  religious  teaching,  no  pro- 
found revelation  of  truth.  They  made  their  appeal 
primarily  not  to  conscience  but  to  curiosity.  Hebrew 
prophecy,  on  the  other  hand,  was  based  on  definite 
principles.  It  was  a  rational  institution.  Its  teach- 
ing was  self-consistent,  coherent,  and  constructive. 
It  presented  to  the  world — and  did  so  for  the  first 
time — a  unitary  conception  of  things,  a  wonderful 
philosophy  of  life  and  history,  which  has  made  such 
a  permanent  and  powerful  appeal  to  the  human 
heart  and  intellect  as  to  carry  with  it  the  conviction 
that  it  came  not  from  man  but  from  God. 

It  is  here  also,  in  the  fundamental  and  original 
character  of  their  work,  that  the  main  difference 
between  the  prophets,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
priests  and  "wise  men,"  on  the  other,  is  to  be  found. 
The  priests  and  "wise  men,**  when  left  to  themselves, 
were  as  a  rule  traditionalists.  They  handed  on  the 
coin  of  the  past ;  they  did  not  mint  new  and  signifi- 
cant ideas.  Only  as  they  responded  to  the  creative 
thought  of  the  prophets  did  they  throw  off  their 

17 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

lethargy  and  refashion  their  inherited  material. 
What  is  most  important  and  permanent  in  their  work 
was  thus  due  to  the  inspiration  of  the  prophets.  It 
was  the  prophets  who  were  the  pioneers  in  God's 
progressive  revelation  of  himself  in  Israel.  It  was 
they  who,  by  the  heave  of  their  genius,  time  and 
again  lifted  the  deadweight  of  tradition  from  off  the 
shoulders  of  the  nation  and  pushed  the  people  on  to- 
ward God.  Without  them  life  would  have  become 
stagnant  and  religion  congealed  into  custom.  It  was 
they  who  broke  up  the  icy  surface  of  social  and 
religious  formalism  and  kept  the  stream  of  spiritual 
life  flowing  on  to  a  larger  and  fuller  day.  To  them 
we  owe  what  is  greatest  and  best  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. The  other  writers — priests,  "wise  men,"  and 
psalmists — simply  reflect  the  light  of  prophetic 
inspiration. 

A  further  point  to  be  noted  with  reference  to 
prophecy  is  the  fact  that  it  was  primarily  social  or 
national  in  character.  The  ''wise  man,"  as  we  have 
seen,  was  interested  chiefly  in  the  individual.  The 
priest  had  to  do  for  the  most  part  with  ecclesiastical 
matters — with  what  we  may  call  the  church.  The 
prophet,  however,  fixed  his  attention  upon  the 
nation.  In  ecclesiastical  matters  as  such  he  had  no 
interest,  and  the  individual  he  apparently  subor- 
dinated to  the  social  group.  At  any  rate,  what  he 
aimed  at  was  not  the  conversion  of  individual  souls 

i8 


PROPHECY  AS  AN  INSTITUTION 

so  much  as  the  transformation  of  society.  He 
looked  forward  to  a  redeemed  nation — a  kingdom 
of  God.  This  fact  is  one  of  special  significance  in 
view  of  the  marked  social  interest  of  our  own  time. 
It  connects  the  prophetic  message  with  the  peculiar 
needs  of  our  own  day  and  gives  to  it  a  great  practical 
as  well  as  historical  importance. 

It  should  also  be  added  in  this  connection  that  it 
was  not  birth,  as  in  the  case  of  the  priest,  nor  natural 
ability,  as  in  the  case  of  the  "wise  man,"  but  a  divine 
call  that  led  to  a  person's  induction  into  the  prophetic 
office.  Whenever  and  wherever  the  Spirit  of  God 
spoke  to  a  man  and  gave  him  a  message,  there  went 
with  it  the  authority  to  assume  the  prophetic  role. 
The  prophetic  order  thus  stood  open  to  all.  No 
human  limitation  was  placed  upon  admission  to  it. 
And  the  question  whether  or  not  a  person  had  actu- 
ally received  a  divine  call  rested  at  the  outset  wholly 
with  the  man  himself.  The  public  later  had  certain 
tests  it  could  apply,  such  as  the  character  of  a 
prophet's  message  and  the  fulfillment  of  his  word. 
But  these  tests  were  often  difficult  of  application; 
and  individuals  were  no  doubt  not  infrequently  mis- 
taken as  to  their  own  call.  The  result  was  that  it 
was  often  an  open  question  whether  a  man  was. a 
true  prophet  or  not.  The  final  decision  could  only 
be  rendered  by  history. 

Rank  and  file  of  the  prophetic  order.^Thus  far 

19 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

we  have  spoken  of  the  entire  prophetic  movement  as 
if  it  were  a  unit.  But  this  was  not  the  case.  There 
were  in  it  different  elements  or  groups,  three  of 
w^hich  at  least  need  to  be  distinguished:  first,  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  party;  second,  the  preliterary 
prophets ;  and,  third,  the  literary  prophets.  The  first 
of  these  represents  more  particularly  the  institu- 
tional side  of  the  movement  and  hence  may  properly 
be  taken  up  here  for  consideration.  The  last  two, 
which  have  to  do  mainly  with  individual  prophets, 
will  be  dealt  with  at  some  length  in  the  next  four 
chapters. 

In  a  direct  way  the  rank  and  file  of  the  prophetic 
party  made  no  important  contribution  to  religious 
thought.  They  even  embodied  at  times  the  spirit  of 
reaction.  But  they  nevertheless  played  a  consider- 
able part  in  the  religious  life  of  the  people  and,  fur- 
thermore, furnished  the  soil  out  of  which  sprang  the 
great  prophetic  individualities.  The  work  of  an 
Amos,  Isaiah,  or  Jeremiah  would  have  been  impos- 
sible but  for  the  tradition  and  psychological 
atmosphere  created  by  the  nameless  prophets  who 
served  in  the  ranks.  The  earliest  references  we  have 
to  these  prophets  are  in  the  time  of  Samuel  in  the 
eleventh  century  b.  c.  They  appear  also  in  the  time 
of  Nehemiah  (6.  10-14)  in  the  fifth  century  b.  c. 
and  probably  had  a  continuous  existence  during  the 
intervening    centuries,    so    that    they    were    active 

20 


PROPHECY  AS  AN  INSTITUTION 

throughout  the  larger  part  at  least  of  Old  Testament 
history. 

In  I  Sam.  lo.  5-13  we  read  of  a  band  of  prophets 
moving  apparently  about  the  country,  carrying  musi- 
cal instruments  with  them,  and  devoting  themselves 
to  an  extravagant  type  of  religious  life.  In  i  Sam. 
19.  18-24  there  is  also  reference  to  a  similar  com- 
pany, and  it  is  not  improbable  that  such  prophetic 
bands  were  a  characteristic  phenomenon  of  the  time. 
What  led  to  their  appearance  we  do  not  know.  As 
good  a  suggestion  as  any  is  that  it  was  due  to  the 
intense  feeling  created  by  the  subjection  of  the 
Israelites  to  the  Philistines  and  the  growing  desire 
for  independence.  This  feeling  took  a  religious  turn 
and  resulted  in  the  formation  of  bands  of  "inspired" 
men,  who  went  through  the  country  with  the  more 
or  less  definite  purpose  of  stirring  the  people  up  to 
the  point  where  they  would  be  willing  to  make  what- 
ever sacrifice  was  necessary  in  order  to  throw  off  the 
yoke  of  the  hated  enemy.  The  prophetic  movement 
was  thus  at  the  outset  patriotic  as  well  as  religious. 
The  excited  demeanor  to  which  it  gave  rise  was  evi- 
dently a  striking  characteristic  of  it,  so  much  so  that 
the  verb  "prophesy"  came  to  be  used  in  the  sense  of 
"rave"  (i  Sam.  18.  10).  This  characteristic  may 
have  caused  the  movement  to  be  held  in  more  or  less 
of  social  disesteem,  a  situation  that  perhaps  was 
reflected  in  the  current  proverb  "Is  Saul  also  among 

21 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

the  prophets?"  But  whatever  may  have  been  their 
social  status,  and  however  crude  their  ideas  of  inspi- 
ration, these  prophetic  bands  were  possessed  of  an 
intense  and  consuming  loyalty  to  their  God  and  coun- 
try— a  loyalty  that  alone  made  possible  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  people  and  the  establishment  of  the 
monarchy. 

After  the  time  of  Samuel  it  was  two  centuries 
before  the  prophetic  bands  came  again  into  promi- 
nence. What  then  stirred  them  to  special  activity,  we 
do  not  know.  It  may  have  been  the  Syrian  wars  of 
the  ninth  century.  They  now  appear  in  rather  close 
connection  with  Elijah  and  Elisha  and  form  appar- 
ently a  quite  numerous  body.  We  read  of  four  hun- 
dred in  one  instance  (i  Kings  22.  6)  and  of  a  hun- 
dred in  another  (i  Kings  18.  13).  They  were  at 
this  time  located  in  various  places  throughout  the 
land,  having  become  settled  colonies.  They  were 
spoken  of  as  "sons  of  the  prophets,"  which  simply 
meant  that  they  formed  guilds,  or  brotherhoods. 
They  lived  together  in  semimonastic  fashion,  having 
their  meals  in  common.  Marriage,  however,  was 
not  forbidden  (2  Kings  4.  1-7,  38-41).  To  some 
extent  they  no  doubt  supported  themselves,  but  in 
large  part  they  seem  to  have  been  dependent  on  the 
gifts  of  others  (i  Kings  14.  3;  2  Kings  5.  15;  8. 
9  ft. ;  Mic.  3.5).  This  must  have  left  them  with  con- 
siderable leisure  time,  which  they  probably  employed, 

22 


PROPHECY  AS  AN  INSTITUTION 

as  did  the  Christian  monks,  in  cuUivating  music  and 
literature.  Some  portions  of  our  Old  Testament 
almost  certainly  came  from  these  circles. 

False  prophets.— Communities  living  under  such 
conditions  were  inevitably  exposed  to  the  danger  of 
corruption.   The  desire  for  gain  would  lead  some  of 
the  prophets  to  pervert  their  office  to  selfish  ends ;  and 
others,  under  the  influence  of  their  daily  routine, 
would  fall  easily  into  formalism  and  professionalism. 
But  even  where  these  evils  did  not  develop,  there  was 
danger  that  the  prophets  would  be  misled  by  their 
sincere  and  intense  political  or  national  interest.    At 
the  outset,  as  we  have  seen,  prophecy  was  a  patriotic 
as  well  as  a  religious  movement.    The  two  elements 
were  fused  together.  But  as  the  nation  became  more 
worldly  and  wicked,  the  two  parted  company,  until 
finally  it  became  necessary  to  choose  between  the 
national  spirit,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  will  of  God, 
on  the  other.     That  this  choice,  however,  had  to  be 
made,  many  of  the  prophets  did  not  realize.     They 
continued  to  identify  the  national  hopes  and  wishes 
with  the  divine  will.    But  this  the  more  enlightened 
of  their  number  could  not  do.    For  them  the  national 
ambition  and  the  divine  purpose  stood  opposed  to 
each  other,  and  thus  there  arose  a  cleavage  in  the 
prophetic  ranks.    We  have  a  foreshadowing  of  this 
cleavage  in  the  time  of  Micaiah  (i  Kings  22.  5  ff.)' 
but  not  until  the  writing  prophets  of  the  eighth  cen- 

23 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

tury  did  it  become  prominent.  From  this  time  for- 
ward, however,  the  cleavage  became  a  fixed  divi- 
sion. 

The  nationalistic  prophets  were  not  necessarily 
insincere.  They  were  rather  self -deceived  (Ezek. 
14.  9;  I  Kings  22,  22).  But  the  true  prophets  did 
not  on  that  account  denounce  them  and  their  message 
any  the  less  severely.  An  ignorant  conscientious- 
ness may  be  quite  as  dangerous  to  a  community  as 
deliberate  wickedness.  Hence,  in  the  early  prophetic 
denunciations  of  the  false  prophets  no  distinction 
was  made  between  those  who  were  blinded  by 
national  zeal  and  those  who  divined  for  money. 
Both  were  put  in  the  same  category.  Indeed,  they 
were  not  always  clearly  distinguished  from  the  other 
prophets.  The  prophets  in  general  were  often  con- 
demned as  misleaders  of  the  people  and  threatened 
with  punishment.  This  fact  might  seem  to  imply  that 
the  prophetic  order  as  a  whole  had  become  corrupt ; 
but  such  would  be  a  mistaken  conclusion.  There 
were  many  true  prophets  in  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
party — men  who  were  ready  to  seal  with  their  blood 
their  loyalty  to  the  truth  (2  Kings  9.  7;  21.  10-16; 
Jen  26.  20-23).  There  was  thus  a  saving  remnant 
in  the  institution,  and  this  saving  remnant  must  have 
been  an  important  factor  in  making  possible  the  work 
of  the  great  prophets  and  in  perpetuating  their  in- 
fluence. 

24 


PROPHECY  AS  AN  INSTITUTION 

Topics  and  Questions  for  Discussion 

Name  the  three  classes  of  intellectual  leaders  in 
ancient  Israel  and  the  contributions  made  by  each  to 
the  Old  Testament.  Consult,  if  possible,  an  intro- 
duction to  the  Old  Testament  such  as  that  by 
McFadyen,  Creelman,  Gray,  Moore,  or  Driver. 

What  do  we  learn  concerning  the  early  "wise 
men"  from  i  Kings  3.  16-18;  10.  i-io;  and  2  Sam. 
14.  1-24;  20.  16-22? 

The  problems  discussed  in  the  book  of  Proverbs 
and  the  other  "wisdom"  books. 

Who  belonged  to  the  class  of  "wise  men,"  and  by 
what  authority  did  they  speak  ? 

The  double  function  of  the  ancient  Hebrew 
priests. 

Who  belonged  to  the  priestly  class,  and  what  dif- 
ferent grades  of  priests  were  there? 

Were  the  priests  conservative  or  progressive? 
Why? 

Contrast  the  function  of  the  prophet  with  that  of 
the  "wise  man"  and  priest. 

What  do  we  learn  from  Exod.  7.  i  as  to  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  "prophet"  ? 

What  was  the  fundamental  distinction  between 
the  Hebrew  prophet  and  the  heathen  diviner? 

Distinguish  between  three  different  classes  or 
groups  of  prophets. 

25 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

What  do  we  learn  from  i  Sam.  lo.  5-13  and  19. 
18-24  concerning  the  prophetic  bands  in  the  time  of 
Samuel  ? 

What  do  we  learn  from  2  Kings  2-10  concerning 
the  ''sons  of  the  prophets"  in  the  time  of  Elijah 
and  EHsha? 

What  special  interest  attaches  to  i  Kings  22? 

Bibliography 

The  Book  of  the  Twelve  Prophets,  by  George 
Adam  Smith  (Volume  I,  pages  11-30). 

The  Prophets  of  Israel,  by  C.  H.  Cornill  (pages 

The  Hebrew  Prophet,  by  L.  W.  Batten  (pages  i- 

41,  73-137)- 

Prophecy  and  the  Prophets,  by  F.  C.  Eiselen 
(pages  14-34). 

The  Beacon  Lights  of  Prophecy,  by  A.  C.  Knud- 
son  (pages  i-io,  28-31,  36-50). 


26 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  PRELITERARY  PROPHETS 

The  prophets  of  note  who  appeared  before  the 
time  of  Amos  (b.  c.  750),  are  commonly  classed 
together  as  the  "preliterary"  prophets.  This  simply 
means  that  they  did  not  reduce  their  oracles  to  writ- 
ten form,  or,  if  they  did,  that  these  written  oracles 
have  not  come  down  to  us.  It  does  not  mean  that 
there  was  no  literary  activity  during  their  time ;  we 
know  there  was,  and  it  is  also  probable,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  that  some  of  it  was  carried  on  in 
prophetic  circles.  But  no  collection  of  prophecies 
has  come  down  to  us  from  a  date  earlier  than  that 
of  Amos.  The  prophets  of  that  early  period  seem  to 
have  had  no  interest  in  handing  on  their  utterances 
to  subsequent  generations.  They  were  men  of 
action,  not  authors,  men  who  were  apparently  con- 
tent with  the  immediate  effect  of  their  words  and 
deeds.  All  that  we  know  of  them,  consequently,  is 
what  is  recorded  in  the  historical  books  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  the  references  to  them  there  are  for 
the  most  part  brief  and  fragmentary. 

There  is  some  question  as  to  exactly  who  should 
be  included  in  the  list  of  preliterary  prophets.     We 

27 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

find,  for  instance,  Abraham  spoken  of  as  a  prophet 
(Gen.  20.  7)  ;  so  also  were  Moses  (Deut.  34.  10)  and 
Miriam  (Exod.  15.  20).  And  it  is  not  to  be  denied 
that  there  is  a  certain  fitness  in  the  use  of  the  term 
in  these  cases,  especially  in  those  of  Abraham  and 
Moses.  These  men  were  in  a  true  and  important 
sense  mediators  between  God  and  man.  But  it  has 
been  customary  to  assign  to  both  of  them  a  unique 
place  in  Israelitic  history,  and  this  custom  it  will 
be  well  to  continue.  From  ancient  times  Moses 
has  been  distinguished  from  the  prophets,  and  this 
distinction  has  a  basis  in  fact.  It  was  Moses  who 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  national  religion.  What- 
ever preliminary  work  may  have  been  done  by  such 
a  man  as  Abraham,  it  is  evident  that  its  influence  had 
largely  been  dissipated  by  the  time  of  the  exodus. 
The  Hebrews  were  then  disorganized  both  politically 
and  religiously.  They  did  not  form  a  nation  nor  did 
they  have  a  distinctive  religion.  It  was  Moses  who 
first  awakened  within  them  a  national  consciousness 
and  established  among  them  the  worship  of  one  God. 
These  two  achievements  went  together  and  were 
made  possible  by  the  marvelous  deliverance  from 
Egypt.  In  this  act  the  Hebrews  saw  the  gracious 
intervention  of  Jehovah  in  their  behalf  and  in 
response  vowed  unto  him  their  undying  allegiance. 
So  passionate  did  this  allegiance  become  under  the 
leadership  of  Moses  and  so  intelligent  was  it  in  its 

28 


THE  PRELITERARY  PROPHETS 

purpose  that  it  became  the  germ  of  the  whole  subse- 
quent rehgious  development  in  Israel.  What  the 
later  prophets  did  was  not  to  create  anything  alto- 
gether new ;  they  simply  put  out  at  interest  the  pound 
they  inherited  from  the  past.  It  was  Moses  who 
was  the  creative  source  of  Old  Testament  religion. 
He  opened  up  the  fountain  from  which  the  stream 
of  prophecy  flowed  forth.  He  stands,  therefore, 
apart  from  the  other  prophets.  The  latter  it  is  best 
to  regard  as  belonging  to  the  period  after  his  time. 
A  further  question  has  been  raised — namely, 
whether  the  preliterary  prophets  ought  not  to  be 
called  *'seers"  rather  than  "prophets."  What  the 
prophets  of  that  time  were,  we  know  from  what  is 
recorded  of  the  prophetic  bands.  They  were 
ecstatics — men  who  by  means  of  music  or  otherwise 
worked  themselves  up  into  a  state  of  frenzy,  losing 
self-control  and  even  consciousness.  A  seer,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  a  man  to  whom  the  Deity, 
through  vision  or  audition,  revealed  his  hidden 
will.  Such  a  man  was  held  in  honor  in  ancient 
Israel  and  was  consulted  by  the  people,  as  was 
Samuel  (i  Sam.  9.  6).  In  this  connection  there 
is  an  interesting  annotation  in  i  Sam.  9.  9.  We 
there  read :  "Beforetime  in  Israel,  when  a  man  went 
to  inquire  of  God,  thus  he  said.  Come,  and  let  us  go 
to  the  seer ;  for  he  that  is  now  called  a  Prophet  was 
beforetime  called  a  Seer."    From  this  it  would  seem 

29 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

that  in  the  opinion  of  the  annotator  Samuel  in  his 
own  day  was  called  a  seer,  not  a  prophet.  What 
later  was  a  function  of  the  prophet  was  earlier  a 
function  of  the  seer.  And  such  a  development  seems 
actually  to  have  taken  place.  The  characteristics 
and  functions  of  the  earHer  prophets  or  ecstatics,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  those  of  the  seers,  on  the  other, 
were  gradually  fused  together  in  the  later  prophet. 
The  latter  thus  combined  the  passionate  intensity  of 
the  ecstatic  with  the  clear  vision  of  the  seer.  But 
while  the  early  seers  are  to  be  distinguished  from 
the  members  of  the  prophetic  bands,  there  is  no  rea- 
son why  the  term  "prophet"  should  not  be  used  of 
both.  "Prophet"  in  the  Old  Testament  is  a  general 
term,  applied  to  a  person  who  at  other  times  is  desig- 
nated not  only  a  "seer"  but  a  "man  of  God"  ( i  Sam. 
9.  6;  I  Kings  17.  18),  a  "servant"  of  God  or  of 
Jehovah  (i  Chron.  6.  49;  i  Kings  18.  36;  Isa.  20. 
3),  a  "messenger"  of  Jehovah  (Isa.  42.  19),  an 
"interpreter"  (Isa.  43.  2y),  and  a  "watchman" 
(Ezek.  3.  17).  All  these  terms  expressed  the  same 
fundamental  idea — that  of  a  mediator  by  speech 
between  man  and  God. 

Deborah.— In  the  post-Mosaic  period  the  first  per- 
son spoken  of  as  a  prophet  or  prophetess  was  Deb- 
orah (Judg.  4.  4.).  She  lived  about  b.  c.  iioo  or 
perhaps  a  little  earlier.  It  was  in  the  time  of  the 
Judges.    Things  were  in  an  unsettled  state.  Anarchy 

30 


THE  PRELITERARY  PROPHETS 

was  abroad  in  the  land,  and  the  conflict  with  the 
Canaanites  was  not  yet  at  an  end.  Indeed,  the  latter 
were  for  the  time  being  in  the  ascendant.  The 
hold  of  the  Israelites  upon  the  country  was  threat- 
ened. The  day  of  decision  was  drawing  near.  Deb- 
orah felt  it.  It  came  to  her  as  a  breath  from  above. 
The  Spirit  of  God  was  upon  her.  She  blew  the  bugle 
blast,  summoning  the  tribes  from  near  and  far  "to 
the  help  of  Jehovah,  to  the  help  of  Jehovah  against 
the  mighty.'*  The  response  was  varied.  Some 
shirked.  Gilead  abode  beyond  Jordan,  Dan 
remained  in  his  ships,  Asher  sat  beside  his  creeks^ 
and  in  Reuben  there  were  great  searchings  of  heart, 
but  no  action.  Others,  however,  responded  with 
alacrity  to  the  prophetic  call.  Zebulun  and  Naph- 
tali  jeoparded  their  lives  unto  death  upon  the  high 
places  of  the  field.  And  the  victory  lay  with  the 
heroes,  for  theirs  was  a  righteous  cause.  The  very 
stars  in  their  courses  fought  for  them.  A  magnifi- 
cent description  of  this  conflict  is  given  in  the  fifth 
chapter  of  Judges  in  a  triumphal  ode,  which  has 
been  declared  to  be  "the  greatest  war  song  of  any 
age  or  nation"  and  has  been  described  as  "a  work 
of  genius  and,  therefore,  a  work  of  that  highest  art 
which  is  not  studied  and  artificial,  but  spontaneous 
and  inevitable."  It  is  not  improbable  that  this  ode 
was  written  by  Deborah  herself,  at  any  rate  by  a 
contemporary.    It  is  thus  one  of  the  earliest  literary 

31 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

monuments  in  the  Old  Testament.  As  such  it  is 
remarkable  that  it  should  speak  of  the  adherents  of 
Jehovah  not  as  those  who  fear  him  but  as  those  who 
love  him.  It  is  also  worthy  of  note  that  in  the  first 
of  the  preliterary  prophets  we  have  a  complete 
fusion  of  patriotic  zeal  and  religious  enthusiasm. 
For  Deborah  there  was  no  conflict  between  the  will 
of  God  and  the  nation's  call  to  arms. 

Samuel.—The  second  of  the  preliterary  prophets 
was  Samuel.  His  activity  fell  in  the  latter  half  of 
the  eleventh  century  b.  c,  toward  the  close  of  the 
period  of  the  judges  and  the  beginning  of  the  mon- 
archy. Somewhat  extended  accounts  of  him  are  to 
be  found  in  i  Samuel,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  gather 
from  them  an  altogether  consistent  view  of  his  per- 
sonality and  work.  The  one  signal  service  he  ren- 
dered was  in  connection  with  the  introduction  of  the 
monarchy.  The  land  of  Canaan  had  in  his  day 
fallen  in  large  part  under  the  domination  of  the  Phil- 
istines. The  people  of  Israel  were  threatened  with 
the  loss  of  their  political  independence,  and  at  that 
time  this  would  have  been  a  fatal  blow  to  the  integ- 
rity of  their  religion.  It  was  therefore  a  grave 
crisis  that  confronted  the  nation.  How  to  meet  it 
was  a  question  that  must  have  weighed  heavily  on 
the  more  earnest  minds.  Samuel,  the  seer  of 
Ramah,  had  no  doubt  pondered  the  subject  long  when 
it  dawned  upon  him  that  the  one  hope  lay  in  the 

32 


THE  PRELITERARY  PROPHETS 

union  of  the  different  tribes  under  a  king.  The 
thought  came  to  him  as  a  divine  inspiration,  just  as 
the  need  of  armed  resistance  to  the  Canaanites 
flashed  upon  the  soul  of  Deborah.  He  consequently 
bided  his  time  and,  when  Saul  apparently  by  chance 
came  to  consult  him  about  his  father's  lost  asses, 
he  recognized  at  once  in  the  young  man  the  chosen 
of  Jehovah  and  secretly  anointed  him  king  ( i  Sam. 
lo.  i).  Soon  afterward  Saul  had  an  opportunity 
to  justify  the  confidence  reposed  in  him  by  the  relief 
of  Jabesh-gilead,  and  this  was  followed  by  his  public 
crowning  at  Gilgal  (i  Sam.  ii.  15).  Later,  how- 
ever, a  breach  arose  between  Saul  and  Samuel.  The 
personal  ambitions  of  the  king  probably  came  into 
conflict  with  the  ideals  of  the  prophet.  The  result 
was  that  the  prophet  turned  away  from  Saul  and, 
according  to  i  Sam.  16.  1-13,  anointed  David,  the 
son  of  Jesse,  king  in  his  stead.  Samuel  thus  stood  in 
a  direct  relation  to  the  kingship  both  of  Saul  and 
David. 

How  Samuel  was  able  to  exercise  so  great  an 
influence  in  his  day  is  not  quite  clear.  Much  is  no 
doubt  to  be  ascribed  to  his  commanding  personality 
and  to  the  honor  in  which  he  was  held  as  a  seer;  but 
a  more  important  factor  is  perhaps  to  be  found  in  his 
relation  to  the  prophetic  bands.  In  one  instance  he 
is  represented  as  "standing  as  head  over  them"  (i 
Sam.  19.  20) ;  and  it  is  not  at  all  improbable  that 

33 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

he  recognized  in  them  great  possibilities  of  useful- 
ness and  so  to  some  extent  organized  and  directed 
their  activities.  Such  enthusiastic  groups  of  men, 
if  intelligently  guided,  would  inevitably  exercise  a 
considerable  influence  upon  public  opinion;  and  if 
they  accepted  in  a  general  way  the  leadership  of 
Samuel,  this  fact  must  have  augmented  to  no  small 
degree  his  power.  In  any  case,  he  and  they  had  the 
same  general  aim:  they  both  felt  the  imperative 
necessity  of  deliverance  from  the  foreign  foe  and 
were  ready  to  adopt  any  expedient,  even  that  of  a 
king,  in  order  to  attain  this  end.  It  is  therefore 
not  improbable  that  they  worked  together  in  the 
establishment  of  the  monarchy. 

Nathan,  Gad,  Ahijah,  Shemaiah. — After  the  time 
of  Samuel  there  was  during  the  period  of  the  united 
monarchy  (b.  c.  1030-937)  no  great  prophetic  voice. 
However,  the  four  prophets  of  this  period,  who  are 
mentioned  by  name,  were  not  without  significance. 
The  most  striking  of  them  was  Nathan.  His  rebuke 
of  David  for  his  sin  in  the  matter  of  Bath-sheba  is 
evidence  that  even  at  that  early  date  prophecy  did 
not  lack  the  stern  ethical  note  (2  Sam.  12.  1-15).  The 
form  of  the  rebuke  is  also  worthy  of  note.  The 
prophet's  "Thou  art  the  man"  has  become  a  classic 
utterance.  Gad  represents  the  conservative  tendency 
characteristic  of  the  early  prophets.  Taking  a  cen- 
sus would  not  to-day  be  regarded  as  an  evil,  but  in 

34 


THE  PRELITERARY  PROPHETS 

David's  time  it  was  an  innovation.  And  innova- 
tions were  looked  upon  with  suspicion  as  being  with- 
out divine  sanction.  Then,  too,  the  taking  of  a  cen- 
sus indicated  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  David  to 
trust  unduly  in  his  newly  won  political  power. 
Hence,  when  a  pestilence  befell  the  land,  the  prophet 
Gad  saw  in  it  a  divine  penalty  for  the  king's  number- 
ing of  the  people  (2  Sam.  24).  Ahijah  and  She- 
maiah  are  of  interest  in  that  they  furnish  evidence  of 
the  prophetic  dissatisfaction  with  Solomon's  reign 
despite  all  its  pomp  and  power.  Better,  they  felt, 
a  divided  and  weaker  kingdom  than  one  that  was 
tyrannical  and  permeated  with  heathen  influences. 
Hence,  Ahijah  instigated  the  revolt  of  Jeroboam  ( i 
Kings  II.  26-40),  and  Shemaiah  is  reported  to  have 
intercepted  Rehoboam  in  his  plan  to  reconquer  the 
seceding  tribes  (i  Kings  12.  21-24). 

Jehu,  Micaiah,  Jonah. — Between  the  division  of 
the  monarchy  and  the  time  of  Amos  (937-750) 
there  were  in  addition  to  Ahijah  and  the  false  prophet 
Zedekiah  five  prophets,  whose  names  have  come 
down  to  us;  and  all  these  belonged  to  the  northern 
kingdom.  The  latter  fact  may  have  been  due  to  the 
greater  importance  of  the  northern  realm  and  to  the 
more  critical  situations  it  was  forced  to  face.  It 
was,  for  instance,  exposed  more  directly  to  the 
attacks  of  the  Syrians;  and  in  its  own  government 
it  underwent  several  revolutions.     While  in  Judah 

35 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

there  was  only  one  dynasty  during  this  period,  in 
Israel  there  were  three,  not  including  Zimri,  who 
ruled  seven  days.  Such  an  unsettled  and  threatening 
state  of  affairs  would  naturally  arouse  the  prophets 
to  unusual  activity.  Of  the  five  prophets  mentioned 
by  name  the  first  and  last  were  of  no  special  signifi- 
cance. The  first,  Jehu  the  son  of  Hanani,  is  said 
to  have  foretold  the  destruction  of  the  house  of 
Baasha  (i  Kings  i6.  1-4),  just  as  the  aged  Ahijah 
before  him  had  announced  the  ruin  of  the  house  of 
Jeroboam  (i  Kings  14.  1-18).  The  last,  Jonah  the 
son  of  Amittai,  is  of  interest  chiefly  because  of  the 
fact  that  his  name  is  connected  with  the  later  book 
of  Jonah.  He  was  a  prophet  of  the  nationalistic  type, 
having  predicted  in  the  early  years  of  the  second 
Jeroboam  that  the  border  of  Israel  would  be  restored 
from  the  entrance  of  Hamath  unto  the  sea  of  the 
Arabah  (2  Kings  14.  25).  Of  the  remaining  three 
prophets  of  this  period  Micaiah  deserves  to  be 
remembered  as  the  first  prophet  who  was  forced  to 
stand  his  ground  against  a  group  of  false  prophets. 
Four  hundred  of  the  latter,  including  Zedekiah,  pre- 
dicted safety  and  victory  for  Ahab  in  case  he  went 
up  to  battle  against  Ramoth-gilead,  while  Micaiah 
foretold  his  deatlf  and  defeat  (i  Kings  2.2.  1-36). 
The  scene  recalls  the  later  conflict  between  Jeremiah 
and  Hananiah  (Jer.  28). 

Elijah  and   Elisha. — The   two   prophets   of   this 

36 


THE  PRELITERARY  PROPHETS 

period  yet  to  be  dealt  with  are  Elijah  and  Elisha. 
These  men  both  made  a  profound  impression  upon 
their  own  time,  and  many  miracles  were  attributed 
to  them  (see  i  Kings  17  to  2  Kings  13).  With  these 
miraculous  narratives  we  are  not  here  concerned, 
but  with  the  general  religious  and  historical  signifi- 
cance of  the  men.  And  from  this  point  of  view 
Elijah  was  manifestly  the  more  important  of  the 
two.  Indeed,  he  was  the  greatest  of  the  preliterary 
prophets.  Personally  he  was  the  most  aggressive 
and  powerful,  and  from  the  standpoint  of  princi- 
ple he  made  the  most  important  contributions  to  the 
prophetic  movement. 

First,  he  reaffirmed  in  a  striking  way  the  right- 
eousness of  Jehovah.  When  Naboth  was  put  to 
death  through  the  machinations  of  Jezebel,  that  her 
husband,  king  Ahab,  might  become  the  possessor  of 
his  vineyard,  Elijah  denounced  the  king  to  his  face 
and  declared  that  as  a  penalty  Jehovah  would  visit 
him  and  his  house  with  destruction  (i  Kings  21). 
In  the  second  place,  he  developed  the  idea  of  the 
jealousy  of  Jehovah  to  a  point  where  it  not  only 
absolutely  excluded  the  worship  of  any  rival  deity 
in  Israel,  but  also  denied  the  very  existence  of  such 
a  deity.  It  was  the  peril  growing  out  of  the  failure 
to  recognize  this  truth  that  first  aroused  the  prophet 
to  action.  Jezebel  had  introduced  into  Israel  the 
worship  of  the  Tyrian  Baal.     This  threatened  the 

37 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

unity  alike  of  the  nation  and  its  religion.  Some- 
thing, it  was  consequently  felt,  must  be  done  to  save 
the  situation.  Elijah  became  the  mouthpiece  of  the 
opposition.  A  drought  and  famine  accentuated  his 
message  of  condemnation,  and  the  struggle  came 
finally  to  a  climax  on  Mount  Carmel  (i  Kings  17, 
18).  There  a  dramatic  victory  was  won  by  the 
intrepid  prophet  as  he  furnished  miraculous  proof 
that  "Jehovah,  he  is  God,"  and  not  Baal.  But  this 
victory  did  not  end  the  conflict.  Elijah  fled  to  the 
ancient  seat  of  Horeb,  and  there  a  third  message  was 
given  him  (19.  1-18).  It  came  as  "a  still  small 
voice/'  but  it  was  nevertheless  a  message  of  doom — 
doom  upon  Israel  as  a  whole  for  its  apostasy.  This 
ivas  something  new  in  the  prophetic  teaching.  Doom 
had  heretofore  been  pronounced  upon  individuals 
and  groups,  but  now  the  whole  nation  was  to  be 
involved,  and  only  a  remnant  saved. 

The  steps  by  which  this  doom  was  to  be  prepared 
were  specified  in  Jehovah's  words  to  Elijah,  but 
Elijah  himself  did  not  carry  them  out.  He  simply 
appointed  Elisha  as  his  successor.  It  was  the  latter 
who  instigated  the  revolution  of  Jehu,  which  put 
an  end  to  the  house  of  Ahab  and  destroyed  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Tyrian  Baal  in  Israel.  After  this  event 
Elisha  continued  active  for  many  5^ears  and  on  his 
deathbed  predicted  the  victory  of  Joash  over  the 
Syrians    (2  Kings   13.    14-21).     But  the  political 

38 


THE  PRELITERARY  PROPHETS 

aspects  of  his  work  were  subordinate,  and  he  made 
no  important  contribution  to  the  reHgious  thought 
of  his  day.  Still,  he  as  well  as  Elijah  was  regarded 
as  a  bulwark  of  the  nation.  Both  at  the  end  of  their 
days  were  declared  to  be  "the  chariots  of  Israel  and 
the  horsemen  thereof"  (2  Kings  2.  12;  13.  14). 

Topics  and  Questions  for  Discussion 

The  meaning  of  the  word  "preliterary"  as  applied 
to  the  prophets  before  Amos. 

Why  should  Moses  be  distinguished  from  the  pre- 
literary  prophets  rather  than  classed  with  them? 

The  distinction  between  seer  and  prophet  in  the 
time  of  Samuel  and  the  relation  of  the  later  prophets 
to  both. 

In  what  did  Samuel's  prophetic  mission  consist, 
and  what  did  he  accomplish  for  his  people  ? 

What  does  i  Sam.  19.  18-24  indicate  with  refer- 
ence to  Samuel's  relation  to  the  prophetic  bands  of 
his  day? 

What  is  the  special  point  of  interest  and  signifi- 
cance in  connection  with  Nathan,  Gad,  Ahijah,  and 
Shemaiah  ? 

Why  were  the  prophets  more  active  in  the  north- 
ern than  the  southern  kingdom  from  b.  c.  937  to 

750? 

What  do  we  know  concerning  the  prophets  Jehu, 
Jonah,  and  Micaiah? 

39 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

What  three  important  messages  did  Elijah, 
according  to  i  Kings  17-19  and  21,  bring  to  the 
people  of  his  day  ? 

The  work  of  Elisha  and  the  sources  of  our 
information  concerning  him. 

Bibliography 

The  Prophets  of  Israel,  by  C.  H.  Cornill  (pages 
16-36). 

The  Prophets  of  the  Old  Testament^  by  A.  R. 
Gordon  (pages  11-34). 

The  Hebrew  Prophet,  by  L.  W.  Batten  (pages 
42-72). 

The  Beacon  Lights  of  Prophecy,  by  A.  C.  Knud- 
son  (pages  10-19,  31-36). 


40 


CHAPTER    III 
THE  EIGHTH-CENTURY  PROPHETS 

The  Old  Testament  prophets,  as  we  have  seen^ 
may  be  divided  into  three  groups :  the  rank  and  file, 
the  preliterary  prophets,  and  the  literary  prophets. 
Of  the  first  two  of  these  groups  we  have  already 
given  some  account.  The  last  is,  however,  by  far 
the  most  important.  The  literary  prophets  created 
the  idea  of  prophecy  proper  and  fixed  its  meaning. 
So  much  so  is  this  the  case  that  many  scholars 
speak  of  the  period  before  the  advent  of  literary 
prophecy  as  the  "preprophetic  period/*  as  if  the 
preliterary  prophets  were  not  in  the  strict  sense  of 
the  term  prophets  at  all. 

It  has  been  customary  since  ancient  times  to  divide 
the  literary  prophets  into  two  classes:  the  four 
major  and  the  twelve  minor  prophets.  But  this 
division  was  based  simply  on  the  length  of  the  books 
and  is  of  no  special  importance.  It  is  more  signifi- 
cant and  more  instructive  to  arrange  them  chrono- 
logically in  three  groups:  the  eighth-century 
prophets,  the  prophets  of  the  Babylonian  period,  and 
the  exilic  and  postexilic  prophets.     Each  of  these 

41 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

groups  will  form  the  subject  of  a  separate  chapter. 
We  deal  in  the  present  chapter  with  the  first. 

In  beginning  the  study  of  the  literary  prophets 
several  questions  of  a  general  nature  arise.  One 
has  to  do  with  the  reason  why  the  prophets  of  the 
eighth  century  reduced  their  oracles  to  writing, 
while  those  before  them  did  not.  To  this  question 
310  positive  answer  can  be  given.  But  it  is  not 
improbable  that  written  prophecy  owed  its  origin  to 
the  literary  tendency  of  the  age.  Men  in  other  lines 
of  activity  were  beginning  to  resort  to  the  pen  in 
order  to  disseminate  their  ideas,  and  hence  the 
prophets  did  so  too.  Then,  too,  the  unbelief  which 
the  eighth-century  prophets  encountered  seems  to 
have  been  more  general  and  more  pronounced  than 
that  of  earlier  times;  and  this  would  naturally  lead 
them  to  commit  their  prophecies  to  written  form  in 
the  hope  that  a  future  day  would  be  more  respon- 
sive to  their  message  (Isa.  30.  8  f.).  We  are  not, 
however,  to  suppose  that  the  literary  prophets  were 
primarily  authors;  they  were  men  of  speech  and 
action  quite  as  much  as  their  predecessors.  Their 
ivork  as  writers  was  wholly  incidental  to  their  active 
ministry. 

Another  general  question  relative  to  the  literar}^ 
prophets  concerns  itself  with  the  relation  of  their 
teaching  to  that  of  their  predecessors.  On  this  point 
there  is  danger  of  exaggeration.    The  difference  was 

42 


THE  EIGHTH-CENTURY  PROPHETS 

not  so  great  as  many  have  thought.  The  eighth- 
century  prophets  were  conscious  of  no  sharp  break 
with  the  past.  They  were  not  innovators.  They  felt 
themselves  at  one  with  Moses,  Samuel,  and  Elijah. 
Furthermore  it  is  evident  from  their  writings  that 
they  must,  in  Emerson's  words,  "have  had  a  long 
foreground  somewhere*  for  such  a  start."  Their 
books  presuppose  centuries  of  reflection  on  the  deep 
things  of  God.  They  were  not  "shot  out  of  a  pis- 
tol" ;  they  were  the  ripe  fruitage  of  a  growth  whose 
roots  can  be  traced  back  to  the  time  of  Moses.  Had 
it  been  possible  for  one  of  the  earlier  prophets  to 
read  these  books  he  would  have  said,  as  did  a 
Mohammedan  woman  after  reading  a  Christian  book 
of  devotion,  "That  is  what  I  have  been  trying  to  say 
all  my  life."  What  the  eighth-century  prophets  did 
was  simply  to  make  more  distinct  and  articulate  the 
profoundest  aspirations  and  convictions  of  the  men 
of  God  who  had  gone  before  them.  They  did  not 
so  much  create  new  ideas  as  deepen  and  clarify  those 
of  the  past.  They  stood,  therefore,  in  a  relation  of 
solidarity  with  preliterary  prophecy. 

Still  another  question  arises  with  reference  to  the 
eighth-century  prophets  in  general.  This  has  to  do 
with  the  historical  conditions  that  lay  back  of  their 
activity.  In  the  time  of  Samuel  and  that  of  Elijah 
the  prophetic  movement,  as  we  have  seen,  was  con- 
temporaneous with  the  Philistine  wars  in  the  one 

43 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

case  and  the  Syrian  wars  in  the  other.  The  danger 
and  agitation  of  the  time  evidently  stimulated  the 
spirit  of  prophecy.  Indeed,  the  prophets  have  been 
called  the  stormy  petrels  of  the  world's  history. 
Some  impending  disaster  usually  led  them  to  speak. 
It  was  so  also  in  the  eighth  century.  Then  it  was 
the  aggression  of  the  Assyrians  that  threatened  the 
Hebrew  kingdoms.  No  one  can  fully  understand 
the  prophetic  utterances  of  the  time  who  does  not 
bear  in  mind  the  peril  from  this  quarter  and  who 
does  not  have  some  acquaintance  with  contemporary 
Assyrian  history.  Four  of  the  most  aggressive 
Assyrian  monarchs  reigned  during  the  latter  half 
of  the  eighth  century:  Tiglath-pileser  III  (b.  c. 
y4.y-y2y)y  Shalmaneser  V  (b.  c.  y2y-y22)y  Sargon 
II  (b.  c.  722-705),  and  Sennacherib  (b.  c,  705- 
681).  All  these  kings  came  into  contact  with  the 
Hebrews ;  and  how  profoundly  this  contact  affected 
the  fortunes  of  the  Hebrew  people  may  be  judged 
from  the  fact  that  Samaria  fell  in  b.  c.  721  and  with 
it  the  northern  kingdom,  and  that  in  b.  c.  701  Jeru- 
salem barely  escaped  capture.  It  was  Isaiah  who 
stood  in  the  closest  relation  to  these  events,  but  the 
general  international  situation  formed  also  the  vivid 
background  of  his  contemporaries:  Amos,  Hosea, 
and  Micah.  The  approaching  doom,  however,  which 
these  prophets  announced,  was  not  merely  to  be  a 
political  catastrophe.    The  outward  misfortune  about 

44 


THE  EIGHTH-CENTURY  PROPHETS 

to  befall  the  state  was  to  them  simply  the  symbol  of 
a  far  greater  divine  intervention,  which  would  over- 
whelm all  the  powers  of  evil  and  bring  in  the  king- 
dom of  God.  There  was  thus  in  their  message  a 
commingling  of  the  temporal  and  the  eternal,  as  is 
always  the  case  with  the  true  prophet  of  God. 

Amos.— We  are  now  prepared  for  a  brief  account 
of  each  of  the  four  eighth-century  prophets.  First 
of  the  group  was  Amos.  This  fact  alone,  that  he 
was  the  first  of  the  literary  prophets,  is  sufficient  to 
entitle  him  to  distinction ;  but  apart  from  that  he  was 
a  striking  man  with  a  striking  message. 

Of  his  life  we  know  little — nothing,  in  fact,  except 
what  is  contained  in  his  book.  From  it  we  learn  that 
his  ministry  fell  in  the  reign  of  Jeroboam,  probably 
about  B.  c.  750.  His  home  was  Tekoa,  a  village 
located  twelve  miles  south  of  Jerusalem  on  a  high 
hill  giving  a  commanding  view  over  the  region  round 
about.  As  a  youth  he  had  no  special  opportunities 
of  training.  He  was  not  a  prophet  nor  the  son  of 
a  prophet.  Indeed,  he  repudiated  all  connection  with 
the  professional  prophets  (7.  14).  He  was  not 
dependent  on  others  for  support.  He  earned  his 
bread  by  honest  toil  as  a  shepherd  and  trimmer  of 
sycamore  trees.  But  his  mind  on  that  account  was 
none  the  less  alert.  He  acquainted  himself  with  the 
past  of  his  own  people  and  he  knew  what  was  going 
on  about  him.     He  was  observant  and  reflective, 

45 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

brooding  over  the  evils  and  perils  of  his  own  time. 
Thus,  unconsciously,  he  prepared  himself  for  a 
special  divine  call,  which  came  to  him  suddenly  and 
*'took"  him  from  following  the  flock.  The  impulse 
that  seized  him  sent  him  to  the  larger  northern  king- 
dom, there  to  proclaim  his  message  of  doom.  His 
ministry  was  probably  of  brief  duration,  but  it  was 
of  stirring  power.  The  prophet  put  his  finger  on  the 
sore  spots  of  the  body  politic,  and  the  land  began  to 
tremble.  It  "is  not  able  to  bear  all  his  words,"  said 
the  priest  of  Bethel  in  alarm.  So  Amos  was  ordered 
to  return  to  Judah,  and  the  order  was  probably 
obeyed,  though  not  until  he  had  repeated  his  message 
of  doom  in  the  very  presence  of  the  royal  priest  and 
applied  it  directly  to  the  priest  himself  and  his 
family.  This  seems  to  have  ended  the  prophet's  pub- 
lic ministry.  But  while  silenced  abroad,  he  could 
write  at  home.  The  pen  took  the  place  of  the  voice, 
and  in  this  way  the  brief  ministry  at  Bethel  came  to 
exercise  a  world-wide  influence. 

The  book  of  Amos  has  at  its  close  a  brief  word 
of  hope  (9.  8-15),  but  otherwise  it  is  made  up  of  an 
almost  unrelieved  message  of  doom.  In  chapters 
I,  2  there  is  a  poem  pronouncing  doom  upon  the 
surrounding  nations  and  reaching  its  climax  in  a 
doom  upon  Israel.  The  latter  doom,  then,  becomes 
the  theme  of  the  rest  of  the  book  down  to  9.  8. 
Chapters  3-6  contain  a  miscellaneous  collection  of 

46 


THE  EIGHTH-CENTURY  PROPHETS 

oracles  of  judgment,  and  chapters  7  to  9.  7  a  series 
of  five  visions  of  judgment.  What,  however,  gives 
significance  to  the  message  of  Amos  is  not  his  pre- 
diction of  doom,  but  the  reason  for  it.  EHjah  in  his 
day  predicted  evil  on  the  land  because  of  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Tyrian  Baal.  But  what  Amos  condemns 
is  not  the  fact  that  the  people  do  not  worship  Jeho- 
vah, but,  rather,  the  fact  that  they  do  not  worship 
him  in  the  right  way,  Jehovah  in  his  essential 
nature  is  a  God  of  righteousness.  The  only  worships 
therefore,  which  he  will  accept  is  one  that  manifests 
itself  in  social  justice.  Religion  is  thus  indissoluble 
bound  up  with  conscience.  To  seek  the  good  is  to- 
seek  Jehovah,  and  to  seek  Jehovah  is  to  seek  the 
good  (5.  6,  14).  It  is  the  clearness  with  which  Amos 
laid  hold  of  this  great  truth  that  gives  to  his  teach- 
ing its  epochmaking  significance  and  that  leads  us 
to  speak  of  him  as  in  a  special  sense  the  prophet  of 
righteousness. 

Hosea.— Hosea  was  a  younger  contemporary  of 
Amos.  Concerning  him  also  our  only  source  of 
information  is  his  own  book.  From  it  we  gather 
that  his  ministry  probably  fell  between  b.  c.  743  and 
734.  He  belonged  to  the  northern  realm  and  is  the 
only  one  of  the  writing  prophets  of  whom  this  is 
true.  His  exact  home,  however,  we  do  not  know,„- 
nor  do  we  know  anything  with  certainty  concerning 
the  details  of  his  life.    It  has  been  conjectured  that 

47 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

lie  was  a  priest,  and  this  is  quite  possible  in  view  of 
the  frequency  with  which  he  refers  to  the  priesthood 
and  the  high  conception  he  had  of  the  priestly  office. 
It  has  also  been  maintained — and  with  somewhat 
greater  confidence — that  chapters  i  and  3  are  to  be 
interpreted  literally.  If  so,  the  prophet  married  a 
woman,  Gomer  by  name,  who  later  proved  untrue 
to  him.  Three  children  were  born  in  the  home,  but 
they  were  not  the  prophet's  own,  and  they  were  given 
names  symbolic  of  the  approaching  doom  and  rejec- 
tion of  Israel.  This  situation  became  after  a  while 
intolerable,  and  the  wife  either  fled  or  was  driven 
from  home.  Later  the  prophet  received  a  divine  com- 
mand to  love  his  wayward  wife  and  restore  her  to 
his  home.  This  he  did,  buying  her  back  from  the 
bondage  into  which  she  had  sold  herself.  If  this 
was  actually  the  experience  of  the  prophet,  we  are 
able  to  understand  somewhat  better  his  conception  of 
the  supreme  love  of  God  for  Israel;  and  his  message 
comes  to  us  with  a  new  power  if  we  realize  that  back 
of  it  lay  a  bleeding  heart. 

But  whatever  may  have  been  the  prophet's  home 
-experience,  we  know  that  he  was  a  man  of  tender 
and  sympathetic  nature.  He  weeps  over  the  sins  of 
Israel,  the  anarchy  within  her  borders,  and  the 
impending  doom.  Yet  he  does  not  lose  hope.  While 
liis  message  is  necessarily,  like  that  of  Amos,  in  large 
measure  a  message  of  judgment,  he  accords  a  larger 

48 


THE  EIGHTH-CENTURY  PROPHETS 

place  to  the  promise  of  a  better  day  to  come  (i.  lo 
to  2.  i;  2.  14-23;  3.  1-5;  II.  8-1 1 ;  14.  1-8).  This 
he  is  able  to  do  because  of  his  stress  on  the  divine 
love.  He  had  an  insight  into  the  heart  of  God  such 
as  had  been  granted  to  no  one  before  his  time,  and 
this  insight  made  certain  for  him  the  redemptive 
purpose  of  God.  He  thus  supplemented  in  a  remark- 
able way  the  message  of  Amos.  As  the  latter  v^ras 
the  prophet  of  law  and  right,  so  Hosea  was  the 
prophet  of  love  and  hope. 

Isaiah. — Isaiah,  the  third  of  the  eighth-century 
prophets,  began  his  ministry  shortly  after  the  begin- 
ning of  that  of  Hosea.  The  date  given  is  "the  year 
that  king  Uzziah  died"  (Isa.  6.  i).  This  was  prob- 
ably B.  c.  740.  But  Isaiah's  ministry  was  much 
longer  than  Hosea's  and  was  carried  on  in  the  south- 
ern kingdom.  His  home  was  Jerusalem.  It  is  also 
not  improbable  that  he  was  of  noble  birth.  He  was 
married  and  had  two  sons,  to  whom  he  gave  symbolic 
names  (7.  3 ;  8.  3).  The  prophetic  call  came  to  him 
when  a  young  man.  The  description  he  has  given 
of  it  is  one  of  the  most  impressive  chapters  in  all 
the  Old  Testament  (chapter  6.)  The  vision  he  then 
received  of  the  majesty  and  sovereignty  of  Jehovah 
went  with  him  through  life  and  imparted  to  him 
something  of  the  same  quality  of  mind.  His  was  a 
regal  nature.    He  trod  the  high  places  of  the  earth. 

His  ministry  extended  over  a  period  of  at  least 

49 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

forty  years  and  possibly  fifty  or  even  fifty-five.  It 
was  one  of  the  most  critical  periods  in  Hebrew  his- 
tory. In  B.  c.  734  came  the  war  of  Syria  and 
Ephraim  against  Judah,  which  aimed  at  the  capture 
of  Jerusalem  (Isa.  7.  i  ff.)  ;  in  732  Damascus,  which 
had  served  as  a  bulwark  between  Israel  and  Assyria, 
fell;  in  721  Samaria  was  captured;  in  711  Ashdod 
met  a  similar  fate;  and  in  701  Jerusalem  barely  es- 
caped capture  and  destruction  at  the  hands  of  Sen- 
nacherib. Crisis  thus  followed  crisis  in  the  national 
life,  so  that  the  people  must  have  been  kept  in  con- 
stant agitation.  In  it  all  Isaiah  played  an  important 
role  and  throughout  it  maintained  a  consistent 
position.  He  opposed  foreign  alliances,  as  Hosea 
also  did,  and  all  attempts  to  solve  the  problems  of  the 
nation  by  force  of  arms.  The  one  hope  of  the  people, 
he  insisted,  lay  in  trust  in  Jehovah.  So  persistently 
did  he  preach  this  doctrine,  and  so  basic  was  it  in  his 
teaching  that  he  may  be  called  "the  prophet  of  faith." 
Isaiah's  faith  manifested  itself  in  several  differ- 
ent ways :  First,  it  gave  him  the  conviction  that  Jeru- 
salem was  inviolable  when  on  two  notable  occasions 
it  was  threatened  by  foreign  enemies  {7.  y,  Zl-  33)- 
Secondly,  it  led  him  to  teach  that  in  the  impending 
doom,  which  he  as  well  as  Amos  and  Hosea 
announced,  a  remnant  would  be  saved.  All  the  peo- 
ple would  not  be  destroyed  (7.  3;  10.  20-23).  In 
the  third  place,  it  assured  him  that  the  coming  judg- 

50 


THE  EIGHTH-CENTURY  PROPHETS 

ment^would  be  followed  by  a  glorious  restoration. 
A  veritable  kingdom  of  God  would  be  established 
with  a  Messianic  Ruler  at  its  head,  a  "Wonderful 
Counsellor,  Mighty  God,  Everlasting  Father,  Prince 
of  Peace"  (9.  6).  The  descriptions  he  has  given  us 
of  the  new  era  are  among  the  sublimest  passages  in 
literature  (see  2.  2-4;  11.  i-io). 

It  was  Isaiah  who  first  developed  in  this  way  the 
doctrine  of  faith.  In  originality  he  consequently 
ranks  along  with  Amos  and  Hosea  as  one  of  the 
three  great  founders  of  literary  prophecy.  But  in 
addition  to  this  he  possessed  remarkable  literary 
ability.  As  a  writer  he  wielded  a  two-edged  sword. 
Then,  too,  he  had  a  strong  and  commanding  person- 
ality, which,  by  virtue  of  his  long  ministry  and  high 
social  station,  he  was  able  to  bring  to  bear  with  tre- 
mendous influence  upon  the  issues  of  his  day.  This 
combination  of  factors  was  unique  in  his  case  and 
has  given  to  him  a  position  of  preeminence.  He  is 
generally  regarded  as  the  greatest  of  the  prophets. 
This  holds  true  even  though  we  accept  the  current 
view  that  much  of  the  book  that  bears  his  name  was 
the  work  of  other  hands.  Chapters  40-66,  for 
instance,  which  contain  some  of  the  sublimest  ut- 
terances in  the  Old  Testament,  are  now  commonly 
assigned  to  a  prophet  of  unknown  name,  who  lived 
about  two  centuries  later  and  who  is  commonly 
referred  to  as  Deutero-Isaiah.     The  work  of  this 

51 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

prophet  will  come  up  for  consideration  in  Chap- 
ter V. 

Micah.— Micah,  the  last  of  the  eighth-century 
prophets,  was  not  equal  to  the  others  in  importance. 
But  he  is  nevertheless  not  without  interest  and  sig- 
nificance. Of  his  life  we  know  nothing  except  that 
he  was  a  native  of  Moresheth,  a  village  in  the 
Judsean  lowlands.  He  began  his  ministry  before 
the  fall  of  Samaria  (i.  6) ;  but  when  it  ended  we 
do  not  know.  He  was  thus  a  contemporary  of  Isaiah 
but  represented  a  different  social  class — the  rural  as 
opposed  to  the  urban.  Something  of  class  spirit 
seems  to  manifest  itself  in  his  antipathy  to  the  cities 
of  Samaria  and  Jerusalem.  He  predicted  in  unquali- 
fied terms  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  (3.  12)  at 
the  very  time  that  Isaiah  was  active  in  it.  This 
prediction  evidently  produced  a  profound  impres- 
sion upon  the  people  of  his  day.  For  a  century  later, 
in  the  time  of  Jeremiah,  the  elders  recalled  it  and  also 
the  further  fact  that  Hezekiah  turned  unto  Jehovah, 
and  hence  the  city  was  spared  (Jer.  26.  16-19).  In 
the  message  of  Micah  there  is  nothing  distinctive 
unless  it  be  found  in  the  intensity  with  which  he 
championed  the  cause  of  the  poor.  Some  have  con- 
sequently called  him  "the  democrat"  among  the 
prophets.  The  most  notable  passage  in  his  book  is 
6.  8.  This  is  in  some  respects  the  greatest  saying 
in  the  Old  Testament.     In  it  Micah  sums  up  the 

52 


THE  EIGHTH-CENTURY  PROPHETS 

teaching  of  each  of  his  three  great  predecessors  or 
contemporaries  and  puts  into  a  single  formula  the 
very  quintessence  of  the  prophetic  revelation :  "What 
doth  Jehovah  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly 
[Amos],  to  love  kindness  [Hosea],  and  to  walk 
humbly  with  thy  God"  [Isaiah]  ? 

Topics  and  Questions  for  Discussion 

State  two  different  methods  of  classifying  the  lit- 
erary prophets. 

What  led  to  the  rise  of  literary  prophecy  ? 

The  importance  of  the  literary  prophets  and  the 
relation  of  their  teaching  to  that  of  the  preliterary 
prophets. 

What  facts  concerning  the  life  of  Amos  may  be 
learned  from  his  book  ? 

The  central  teaching  of  Amos  and  its  relation  to 
that  of  Elijah.  (Pick  out  the  three  or  four  sayings 
of  Amos  that  you  regard  as  most  important.) 

Hosea's  date,  home,  and  occupation. 

How  are  we  to  interpret  the  first  and  third  chap- 
ters of  Hosea  ? 

The  distinctive  message  of  Hosea.  (Read  the 
book  of  Hosea  and  mark  the  verses  or  passages 
which  are  most  characteristic  and  striking.) 

What  do  we  know  concerning  the  personal  life 
of  Isaiah? 

53 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

The  main  political  events  in  Isaiah's  ministry  and 
the  policy  he  advocated. 

Isaiah's  distinctive  message  and  the  three  different 
ways  in  which  it  was  developed.  (Notice,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  passages  cited  in  the  text,  7.  4,  7;  8.  6; 
18.  4;  28.  16;  30.  15.) 

Name  three  main  grounds  of  Isaiah's'preeminence 
as  a  prophet. 

Compare  the  life  and  teaching  of  Micah  with  that 
of  Isaiah. 

Give  an  estimate  of  the  importance  of  Mic.  6.  8. 

Bibliography 

The  Book  of  the  Twelve  Prophets,  by  G.  A. 
Smith   (Volume  I,  pages  31-120,  21 1-3 1,  357-74, 

419-25)- 

The  Prophets  of  Israel,  by  C.  H.  Cornill  (pages 

37-70). 

The  Prophets  of  the  Old  Testament^  by  A.  R. 
Gordon  (pages  35-141). 

Prophecy  and  the  Prophets,  by  F.  C.  Eiselen 
(pages  35-42,  52-57,  73-80,  1 16-18). 

The  Beacon  Lights  of  Prophecy,  by  A.  C.  Knud- 
son  (pages  19-28,  56-164). 


54 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE  PROPHETS  OF  THE  BABYLONIAN 

PERIOD 

In  the  eighth  century  b.  c.  it  was  Assyria,  as  we 
have  seen,  that  was  the  dominant  power  in  South- 
west Asia  and  in  the  world.  It  was  the  westward 
advance  of  her  armies  that  hung  as  a  threatening 
cloud  over  the  Hebrew  kingdoms  and  that  filled  the 
minds  of  the  inspired  prophets  with  the  premoni- 
tion of  impending  disaster.  Doom  was  their  con- 
stant theme.  Damascus,  the  bulwark  between  Israel 
and  Assyria,  would  fall.  This  was  predicted  by  both 
Amos  and  Isaiah — an  event  that  took  place  in  b.  c. 
732.  Samaria  would  then  be  overthrown — a  pre- 
diction made  by  all  the  eighth-century  prophets  and 
fulfilled  in  b.  c.  721.  As  to  Jerusalem  both  its  doom 
and  marvelous  deliverance  seem  to  have  been  pre- 
dicted. In  B.  c.  701  Judah  was  devastated  by  the 
Assyrian  army  (Isa.  i.  2-9).  Hezekiah,  the  king, 
was  shut  up  in  Jerusalem  like  a  caged  bird.  For  a 
time  he  resisted  the  besiegers,  but  finally  bought  them 
off  by  the  payment  of  a  large  ransom.  The  invaders 
then  moved  on  toward  Egypt,  which  was  their  ulti- 
mate objective;  but  a  little  later  the  Assyrian  king 
Sennacherib  seems  to  have  repented  of  his  bargain 

55 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

with  Hezekiah  and  in  violation  of  his  pledged  word 
sent  back  a  demand  for  the  unconditional  surrender 
of  the  city.  Resistance  seemed  hopeless,  yet  Isaiah 
in  that  supreme  crisis  of  the  city's  history  stepped 
forth  and  confidently  told  the  trembling  king  and  his 
counselors  that  Sennacherib  would  never  again  lay 
siege  to  the  city,  but  that  the  Lord  would  put  his 
hook  in  his  nose  and  lead  him  back  by  the  way  that 
he  came.  Outwardly  there  was  not  the  slightest 
prospect  that  any  such  thing  would  occur,  yet  it  did 
take  place.  Because  of  a  pestilence  or  for  some  other 
reason  Sennacherib  suddenly  stayed  his  advance  into 
Egypt  and  returned  to  the  homeland.  Jerusalem  was 
thus  marvelously,  almost  miraculously  delivered. 

That  this  event  was  predicted  by  Isaiah  and  that 
he,  along  with  other  prophets,  also  foretold  the  fall 
of  Damascus  and  of  Samaria  must  have  produced 
a  profound  impression  upon  the  people  of  his  day. 
It  seems  to  have  led  Hezekiah  to  bring  about  a 
reform  of  the  public  worship,  putting  an  end  to 
various  idolatrous  practices  of  long  standing  (2 
Kings  18.  4).  But  this  public  and  general  influence 
of  the  eighth-century  prophets  was  apparently  of 
short  duration.  Under  the  next  king,  Manasseh 
(686-641),  there  was  a  heathen  reaction.  The  old 
idolatrous  practices  were  revived,  and  new  ones 
were  introduced  (2  Kings  21.  3  fif.)  The  true 
prophets  were  persecuted  (2  Kings  21.  10-16)  and 

S6 


THE  BABYLONIAN  PERIOD 

not  improbably  driven  under  cover,  where  in  limited 
circles  they  continued  their  work  in  preparation  for 
a  better  day  to  come.  The  deliverance  from  Assyria 
also  did  not  apparently  last  long.  For  Manasseh 
was  again  subject  to  the  Assyrian  king.  Isaiah  at 
first  had  looked  upon  Assyria  as  the  rod  of  Jehovah's 
anger  and  the  staff  of  his  indignation  (Isa.  lo.  5) — 
as  an  instrument  used  by  Jehovah  to  punish  Israel 
and  other  nations  for  their  sins.  But  later  he  pre- 
dicted the  overthrow  of  Assyria  herself  (14.  24-27; 
17.  12-14;  10.  16-34).  However,  despite  these  pre- 
dictions Assyria  continued  to  flourish.  Under  Sen- 
nacherib's successors,  Esarhaddon  (b.  c.  681-668) 
and  Ashur-bani-pal  (b.  c.  668-625),  Egypt  was  con- 
quered, Memphis  and  proud  Thebes  destroyed,  and 
Assyria  received  her  greatest  extension  of  power. 
But  the  prophetic  word,  while  delayed  in  its  fulfill- 
ment, was  not  to  be  gainsaid.  Even  before  the  end 
of  Ashur-bani-pal's  reign  the  decline  of  the  Assyrian 
power  had  begun,  and  after  his  death  it  became 
rapid.  Babylon  under  Nabopolassar  (b.  c.  625- 
605)  asserted  its  independence  and  fell  heir  to  what 
was  left  of  the  Assyrian  Empire.  From  about  b.  c. 
625,  therefore,  we  may  date  the  beginning  of  the 
Babylonian  period,  though  Nineveh,  the  capital  city 
of  Assyria,  did  not  fall  until  b.  c.  606. 

The     Babylonian     period     of     Israel's     history 
extended   from  about  b.    c.   625   to   538,  but  the 

57 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

prophets  whom  we  are  to  study  in  the  present  chap- 
ter all  belong  to  the  earlier  part  of  the  period.  We 
call  these  men  ''the  prophets  of  the  Babylonian  peri- 
od/' just  as  we  might  have  called  the  eighth-century 
prophets  "the  prophets  of  the  Assyrian  period."  It 
Avas  the  Babylonian  Empire  that  constituted  the  chief 
menace  to  Judah  toward  the  close  of  the  seventh 
century  b.  c.  and  the  beginning  of  the  sixth,  as  it 
vras  the  Assyrian  Empire  that  threatened  the  exist- 
ence of  the  two  Hebrew  kingdoms  in  the  latter  half 
of  the  eighth  century.  At  first  it  was  a  question 
whether  Palestine  and  Syria  might  not  fall  to  Egypt 
rather  than  to  Babylonia.  The  Egyptian  king  Necho 
took  the  lead  in  asserting  his  claim  to  these  lands; 
and  Josiah,  the  pious  king  of  Judah,  who  rashly 
attempted  to  prevent  his  eastward  advance,  came  to 
an  untimely  end  (b.  c.  609).  But  a  few  years  later, 
at  the  great  battle  of  Carchemish  (b.  c.  605),  Necho 
was  decisively  defeated  by  Nebuchadrezzar;  and 
from  that  time  on  until  the  capture  of  Babylon  by 
Cyrus  in  b.  c.  538  Palestine  and  Syria  remained 
subject  to  the  new  Babylonian  power.  Judah,  how- 
ever, was  restive  under  Babylonian  rule,  as  she  was 
a  century  earlier  under  Assyrian  rule.  A  revolt  took 
place  in  b.  c.  597,  which  resulted  in  the  capture  of 
Jerusalem  and  the  deportation  of  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  its  population.  Ten  years  later  another 
revolt  broke  out,  and  the  result  this  time  was  the 

58 


THE  BABYLONIAN  PERIOD 

destruction  of  the  city  and  the  end  of  the  Hebrew 
monarchy  (b.  c.  586). 

Prophets  of  this  period.— To  this  critical  and 
tragic  period  in  Judah's  history  five  of  the  Hterary 
prophets  belong:  two  "major"  (Jeremiah  and  Eze- 
kiel)  and  three  "minor"  prophets  (Zephaniah,  Na- 
hum,  and  Habakkuk).  In  this  instance  the  "minor" 
prophets  are  of  subordinate  importance  as  well  as 
comparatively  brief.  The  three  books  of  Zephaniah, 
Nahum,  and  Habakkuk  contain  each  only  three  chap- 
ters. They  are  thus  considerably  shorter  than  the 
prophetic  books  we  have  already  discussed.  Con- 
cerning the  three  prophets  themselves  we  also  know 
almost  nothing.  Zephaniah,  we  learn  from  the 
superscription  of  his  book,  was  of  royal  descent. 
His  genealogy  is  carried  back  four  generations  to 
Hezekiah,  who  was  no  doubt  the  king  of  that  name. 
Of  Nahum  we  are  simply  told  that  he  was  an  Elkosh- 
ite,  that  he  came  from  the  village  of  Elkosh,  which 
was  probably  located  on  the  southwestern  border  of 
Judah,  not  far  from  the  home  of  Micah.  Of  Habak- 
kuk we  know  nothing  but  the  name.  Brief,  how- 
ever, as  these  books  are,  and  limited  as  is  our  knowl- 
edge of  their  authors,  each  one  has  its  own  special 
interest  and  significance. 

Zephaniah. — The  prophecy  of  Zephaniah  was 
probably  delivered  about  b.  c.  627  and  was  perhaps 
occasioned  by  a  threatened  invasion  of  the  Scythians, 

59 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

who,  according  to  Herodotus,  terrorized  Southwest- 
ern Asia  during  a  large  part  of  the  second  half  of  the 
seventh  century  b.  c.  His  message  centered  in  *'the 
day  of  Jehovah" — a  day  of  universal  doom.  Such  a 
day,  as  we  have  seen,  was  by  no  means  unknown  to 
the  eighth-century  prophets,  but  its  universality  and 
the  vague  and  miraculous  character  of  its  terrors 
received  with  Zephaniah  a  new  emphasis  (i.  2,  3, 
14-18),  so  that  his  book  has  been  described  as  ''the 
first  tinging  of  prophecy  with  apocalypse/'  Apoc- 
alypse, which  became  a  very  important  movement  in 
the  next  period  and  was  such  also  in  New  Testa- 
ment times,  differs  from  prophecy  chiefly  in  the 
stress  it  places  upon  the  mysterious  and  supernatural 
character  of  the  divine  intervention  in  the  world. 
Prophecy  saw  God  in  history;  apocalypse  saw  him 
almost  exclusively  in  miracle.  The  latter  tendency 
received  a  new  and  striking  expression  in  Zephaniah, 
and  it  is  in  that  connection  especially  that  the  book 
is  to  be  studied.  While  the  doom  which  Zephaniah 
predicted  was  a  universal  one  it  was  directed  pri- 
marily against  Judah,  and  the  reasons  for  it  did 
not  differ  materially  from  those  found  in  the 
eighth-century  prophets.  Idolatry,  indifference  to 
Jehovah,  and  general  iniquity  had  revived  under  the 
wicked  king  Manasseh;  and  it  is  these  evils  that 
Zephaniah  condemns  (i.  4,  5,  12;  3.  1-4). 

Nahum.  —The  prophecy  of  Nahum  probably  dates 

60 


THE  BABYLONIAN  PERIOD 

from  about  b.  c.  607.  It  describes  in  brilliant  and 
powerful  verse  the  approaching  doom  of  Nineveh, 
"the  bloody  city,"  and  is  the  first  prophetic  book 
directed  wholly  against  a  foreign  city  or  people. 
Nahum  says  nothing  about  the  sins  of  Judah.  But 
this  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  he  was  one  of 
the  nationalistic  prophets  condemned  by  Jeremiah. 
It  simply  means  that  he  had  his  mind  fixed  on  the 
universal  reign  of  Jehovah  and  that  he  saw  in  the 
Nineveh  of  the  past  the  chief  barrier  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  that  reign.  But  it  is  nevertheless  of 
interest  that  what  was  secondary  with  Amos  and 
Isaiah  is  primary  with  Nahum.  Nahum  sees  not  in 
Israel  herself  but  in  a  foreign  foe  the  chief  obstacle 
to  the  divine  rule  in  the  world.  This  tendency  later 
became  a  predominant  one  among  the  Jews,  many 
of  whom  saw  in  the  heathen  world  as  a  whole  the 
enemy  of  God. 

Habakkuk. — The  prophecy  of  Habakkuk  should 
perhaps  be  put  at  about  b.  c.  600.  We  have  here 
"the  beginning  of  speculation  in  Israel."  Here  for 
the  first  time  a  prophet  interrogated  Jehovah  as  to 
his  rule  of  the  world.  A  similar  questioning  attitude 
appears  also  in  Jeremiah,  but  there  it  has  to  do  with 
the  individual.  In  Habakkuk  the  question  is 
national,  and  the  problem  is  a  double  one.  Why, 
the  prophet  asks,  does  Jehovah  permit  the  wicked 
in  Judah  to  go  unpunished  (i.  2-4)  ?    The  answer 

61 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

given  is  that  the  Chaldeans,  or  Babylonians,  are 
being  raised  up  as  ministers  of  the  divine  justice  (i. 
5-1 1 ) .  But  this  gives  rise  to  another  question :  How 
can  Jehovah  appoint  a  wicked  nation  like  the  Baby- 
lonians as  his  agent  to  execute  punishment  upon  a 
people  who  are  "more  righteous"  than  they  (i.  12- 
17)  ?  The  final  answer  is  that  the  wicked  will  be 
punished,  but  "the  just  shall  live  by  faith" ;  or,  more 
exactly,  "the  righteous  shall  live  by  his  faithful- 
ness" (2.  4).  This  is  one  of  the  most  pregnant 
utterances  in  Scripture,  and  the  fact  that  it  orig- 
inated with  Habakkuk  is  in  itself  sufficient  reason 
for  remembering  his  book. 
*.^;^ Jeremiah. — But  while  Zephaniah,  Nahum,  and 
Habakkuk  are  interesting  as  forerunners  of  the 
later  apocalyptic,  anti  foreign,  and  speculative  move- 
ments in  Israel,  they  are  quite  overshadowed  by  their 
great  contemporaries,  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel.  The 
ministry  of  Jeremiah  began  in  b.  c.  626  and  contin- 
ued until  after  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  in  b.  c.  586. 
Concerning  the  details  of  his  life  we  are  more  fully 
informed  than  in  the  case  of  any  other  prophet. 
This  is  due  chiefly  to  the  fact  that  he  had  a  scribe 
by  the  name  of  Baruch,  who  seems  to  have  written 
a  biography  of  his  master,  considerable  portions  of 
which  have  been  preserved  for  us  in  the  book  of 
Jeremiah.  Of  the  personal  experiences  of  the 
prophet  during  the  reign  of  the  good  King  Josiah 

62 


THE  BABYLONIAN  PERIOD 

(b,  c.  639-608)  we  know  little.  But  during  the 
reign  of  the  reactionary  Jehoiakim  (b.  c.  605-597) 
we  find  him  subject  to  constant  persecution.  After 
a  discourse  in  which  he  predicted  the  destruction  of 
the  Temple  he  was  seized  by  the  priests  and  prophets 
and  barely  escaped  sentence  of  death  (chapters  7 
and  26).  After  the  public  reading  of  his  written 
prophecies  the  king  ordered  him  and  his  scribe 
arrested;  but  the  Lord,  we  read,  "hid  them"  (chap- 
ter 36).  At  another  time  his  own  townspeople  of 
Anathoth  conspired  to  put  him  to  death  (11.  18- 
23).  At  yet  another  time  he  was  put  in  the 
stocks  and  kept  overnight  (19.  i  to  20.  6).  Later, 
under  the  weak  King  Zedekiah  (b.  c.  597-586),  the 
public  and  official  hostility  to  him  seems  at  first  to 
have  been  less  aggressive.  But  after  the  final  revolt 
against  Babylonia  he  was  again  arrested,  imprisoned, 
and  at  one  time  thrust  into  a  slimy  cistern,  where 
he  would  have  perished  had  he  not  been  rescued  by 
Ebed-melech  the  Ethiopian  (38.  6-13).  After  the 
capture  of  the  city  and  the  assassination  of  Gedaliah 
he  was  against  his  will  carried  away  to  Egypt,  where 
he  continued  his  prophetic  activity  and,  according  to 
tradition,  met  a  martyr's  death. 

The  opposition  and  persecution  to  which  the 
prophet  was  thus  subjected  throughout  most  of  his 
ministry  were  chiefly  due  to  the  fact  that  his  message 
ran  counter  to  the  dominant  public  sentiment  of  the 

63 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

day.  It  was  a  critical  and  perilous  time  in  which 
he  lived.  Not  only  the  independence  but  the  very 
existence  of  the  nation  was  at  stake.  How  to  meet 
the  crisis  was  the  question  uppermost  in  the  minds  of 
all  the  thoughtful  people  in  Jerusalem.  Two  main 
answers  were  given :  One  was  that  of  the  politician 
— intrigue  and  force.  The  other  was  that  of  the 
priest  and  prophet — scrupulous  attention  to  the  pub- 
lic worship  of  Jehovah.  With  neither  of  these  poli- 
cies was  Jeremiah  satisfied.  The  first  he  strongly 
condemned  and  the  second  he  regarded  as  altogether 
inadequate.  The  result  was  that  he  awakened  the 
opposition  of  both  the  militaristic  and  the  ecclesias- 
tical party.  As  against  the  militarists  he  insisted 
that  the  only  safe  policy  for  the  state  to  follow  was 
to  remain  subject  to  Babylonia.  And  as  over  against 
the  ecclesiastics  he  declared  that  no  outward  reform 
of  worship — even  though  it  be  as  radical  as  that 
under  Josiah  in  b.  c.  621 — would  guarantee  the 
divine  favor.  The  sin  of  Judah  was  so  deep-seated 
that  it  had  become  second  nature  to  her  (13.  23). 
Nothing  short  of  a  change  of  heart  would  therefore 
suffice  (4.  3,  4).  There  must  be  a  new  covenant 
written  not  on  tables  of  stone  but  on  the  hearts 
of  men  (31.  31-34).  Jeremiah  thus  stressed  the 
inwardness  of  religion  as  those  before  him  had  not 
done.  It  was  he  who  ''first  discovered  the  soul  and 
its  significance  for  religion." 

64 


THE  BABYLONIAN  PERIOD 

But  even  more  important  than  his  pubHc  teaching 
was  his  own  personal  relation  to  God.  The  prophets 
before  his  time  had  dealt  chiefly  with  the  nation,  and 
this  continued  to  be  the  main  theme  of  Jeremiah's 
preaching.  But  beyond  that  his  own  experiences 
constituted  for  him  a  problem.  He  felt  at  times 
that  God  was  not  dealing  fairly  with  him  and  bitterly 
complained  of  the  treatment  he  was  receiving,  even 
cursing  the  day  he  was  born  (20.  14-18).  But 
despite  all  these  complaints  he  did  not  lose  his  hold 
on  God  but  struggled  through  to  the  conviction  that, 
after  all,  life's  chief  good  is  to  be  found  in  fellow- 
ship with  the  divine  (15.  19).  This  is  a  new  note 
in  Jeremiah — one  that  warrants  our  speaking  of  him 
as  ''the  prophet  of  personal  piety." 

Ezekiel — Ezekiel  was  a  younger  contemporary  of 
Jeremiah.  He  was  carried  into  captivity  in  the  first 
deportation  in  b.  c.  597  and  settled  at  Tel-abib,  on 
the  banks  of  a  canal  known  as  "the  river  Chebar." 
The  prophetic  call  came  to  him  in  b.  c.  592,  and  the 
last  date  mentioned  in  his  book  is  b.  c.  570.  His 
ministry  thus  extended  over  at  least  twenty-two 
years,  six  of  which  preceded  the  fall  of  Jerusalem. 
Of  his  life  and  activities  we  know  little.  He  was 
married  and  occupied  his  own  house,  but  his  wife 
died  at  about  the  time  Jerusalem  was  captured  (24. 
15-24).  How  he  carried  on  his  public  ministry 
among  the  exiles,  we  do  not  know.     Occasionally 

6s 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

the  elders  met  him  at  his  home  (8.  i ;  14.  i ; 
20.  i),  and  at  other  times  he  no  doubt  sought  out 
the  people.  At  first  his  message  did  not  differ  essen- 
tially from  that  of  Jeremiah.  It  was  one  of  doom 
upon  Jerusalem,  his  motive  being  to  prepare  the 
minds  of  the  exiles  for  the  impending  catastrophe 
(chapters  1-24).  But  after  the  fall  of  the  city  it 
became  one  of  hope  and  consolation  (34-48) .  There 
would,  he  assured  the  people,  be  "showers  of  bless- 
ing." His  own  style  is  for  the  most  part  not  such 
as  to  appeal  to  the  modern  reader.  It  is  prosaic  and 
diffuse,  and  his  imagery  is  often  strange,  even  to 
the  point  of  seeming  to  us  grotesque  (compare  4.  i  to 
5.  4;  12.  1-7).  But  it  was  apparently  a  style  that 
appealed  to  the  people  of  his  day.  To  them  he  was 
"as  a  very  lovely  song  of  one  that  hath  a  pleasant 
voice,  and  can  play  well  on  an  instrument"  (33.  32). 
Despite  his  popularity  as  a  speaker,  however, 
Ezekiel  had  at  first  little  real  influence  with  his  fel- 
low exiles.  Not  until  his  word  was  fulfilled  by  the 
fall  of  Jerusalem  did  he  come  to  be  generally  recog- 
nized as  a  true  prophet.  But  from  that  time  on  he 
seems  to  have  exercised  an  increasing  influence  not 
only  on  his  own  but  on  subsequent  generations.  He 
was  priest  as  well  as  prophet,  and  it  was  he  who  first 
formulated  a  body  of  laws  for  the  restored  com- 
munity (chapters  40-48).  He  thus  prepared  the 
way  for  the  church  of  the  second  Temple  and  became 

66 


THE  BABYLONIAN  PERIOD 

"the  father  of  Judaism."  This  was  so  great  an 
achievement  that  he  has  been  declared  to  be  "the 
most  influential  man  that  we  find  in  the  whole  course 
of  Hebrew  history."  But  from  the  prophetic  point 
of  view  what  interests  us  most  in  connection  with 
Ezekiel  is  his  message  concerning  the  individual  ( i8; 
33.  10-20).  Jeremiah  had  raised  the  problem  of 
God's  dealing  with  the  individual  so  far  as  he  him- 
self was  concerned.  But  he  did  not  generalize  the 
problem.  Ezekiel  was  the  first  to  do  that,  and  the 
way  in  which  he  did  it  has  given  to  his  teaching  on 
that  point  epochmaking  significance.  God,  he  tells 
us,  stands  in  a  direct  relation  to  every  individual. 
"All  souls  are  mine,"  says  Jehovah.  Every  man  will 
be  judged  by  his  own  deserts.  There  is,  in  strict 
literalness,  no  hereditary  guilt  and  no  vicarious  suf- 
fering. For  every  person  it  is  possible  to  turn  to  God 
and  live.  "As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord  Jehovah,  I  have 
no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked;  but  that  the 
wicked  turn  from  his  way  and  live:  turn  ye,  turn 
ye  from  your  evil  ways ;  for  why  will  ye  die,  O  house 
of  Israel?"  (33.  11).  It  is  this  great  message  that 
justifies  our  speaking  of  Ezekiel  as  "the  prophet  of 
individualism." 

Topics  and  Questions  for  Discussion 

Important  predictions  made  by  the  eighth-century 
prophets  and  the  effect  of  their  fulfillment. 

^7 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

The  history  of  Assyria  in  the  seventh  century 
B.  c.  and  its  relation  to  that  of  Judah.  (Read,  if 
possible,  the  accounts  in  a  history  of  Assyria  and 
in  an  Old  Testament  or  Hebrew  history,  such  as 
that  by  Peritz,  Wade,  Ottley,  Sanders,  or  Kent. ) 

The  rise  of  the  new  Babylonian  Empire  and  its 
relation  to  Judah.  (Read  the  accounts  in  one  or 
more  of  the  histories  already  mentioned.) 

What  is  the  distinctive  element  in  Zephaniah's 
message? 

What  is  the  difference  between  prophecy  and 
apocalypse  ? 

When  was  the  book  of  Nahum  written,  and  in 
what  respect  does  it  differ  from  the  other  preexilic 
prophetic  books? 

What  new  problem  is  dealt  with  by  Habakkuk, 
and  how  is  it  developed  in  i.  2  to  2.  4? 

Why  are  we  better  informed  concerning  Jeremiah 
than  any  other  prophet,  and  what  are  the  main  facts 
in  his  life? 

The  two  parties  in  Judah  and  the  reasons  for  Jere- 
miah's opposition  to  both. 

The  new  element  in  Jeremiah's  life  and  teaching. 
(Single  out  five  or  six  of  the  most  characteristic  and 
significant  sayings  or  passages  in  the  book. ) 

What  do  we  know  concerning  the  personal  life 
of  Ezekiel? 

Ezekiel's  literary  style  and  the  very  noticeable 

68 


THE  BABYLONIAN  PERIOD 

change  in  the  character  of  his  message  after  the  fall 
of  Jerusalem. 

Why  has  Ezekiel  been  called  "the  father  of 
Judaism"  ? 

Ezekiel's  doctrine  of  individualism  and  its  rela- 
tion  to  the  teaching  of  Jeremiah.  (Read  Ezek.  3, 
16-21;  14.  12-20;  18;  33.  1-20.) 

Bibliography 

The  Book  of  the  Twelve  Prophets,  by  G.  A.  Smith 
(Volume  II,  pages  3-45,  77-89,  115-28). 

The  Prophets  of  Israel,  by  C.  H.  Cornill  (pages 
71-124). 

The  Prophets  of  the  Old  Testament,  by  A.  R. 
Gordon  (pages  142-54,  166-93,  211-31). 

Prophecy  and  the  Prophets,  by  F.  C.  Eiselen 
(pages  125-40,  163-94). 

The  Beacon  Lights  of  Prophecy,  by  A.  C.  Knud- 
son  (pages  50-55,  165-239). 


69 


CHAPTER    V 
THE  POSTEXILIC  PROPHETS 

The  third  group  of  literary  prophets  had  no  such 
unity  of  background  as  the  other  two.  The  eighth- 
century  prophets  all  came  close  together  and  were 
active  during  a  comparatively  limited  period  of  time 
— fifty  or  sixty  years.  This  was  also  the  case  with 
the  prophets  of  the  Babylonian  period.  Essentially 
the  same  conditions  consequently  confronted  all  the 
members  of  each  of  these  groups.  But  the  postexilic 
prophets  were  scattered  over  almost  four  centuries ; 
and  the  conditions  that  lay  back  of  their  activities 
naturally  varied  in  different  cases.  Less  of  uni- 
formity is  therefore  to  be  expected  in  this  group 
than  in  the  first  two. 

It  is  customary  to  subdivide  the  postexilic  period 
of  Old  Testament  history  into  the  Persian  and 
Greek  periods.  The  Persian  period  extended  from 
the  fall  of  Babylon  in  b.  c.  538  to  the  conquest  of 
Palestine  by  Alexander  the  Great  in  b.  c.  332.  The 
Greek  period,  beginning  in  b.  c.  332,  ended  with  the 
Maccabean  revolt,  which  may  be  regarded  as  having 
achieved  its  immediate  purpose  by  b.  c.  165.  Of  the 
Jewish  community  during  the  Persian  period  we 

70 


THE  POSTEXILIC  PROPHETS 

know  but  little.  Only  three  important  events  fixed 
themselves  in  the  national  memory :  the  return  from 
Babylon  (b.  c.  536),  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple 
(b.  c.  520-516),  and  the  rebuilding  of  the  wall  of 
Jerusalem  under  Nehemiah  and  Ezra  (b.  c.  444). 
In  connection  with  the  Greek  period  the  main  fact 
to  be  noted  is  the  growing  conflict  between  the 
inherited  Jewish  faith  and  the  naturalistic  or  irre- 
ligious tendency  of  Greek  civilization,  by  which  the 
Jews  were  now  being  surrounded.  It  was  this  con- 
flict that  came  to  a  head  in  the  attempt  of  Antiochus 
Epiphanes  to  destroy  the  Hebrew  religion  and  in 
the  revolt  of  the  Maccabees.  The  struggle  that  then 
ensued  was  of  critical  significance  for  the  history 
of  religion,  and  the  time  in  which  it  fell  was  com- 
parable in  intensity  of  feeling  to  that  which  pre- 
ceded the  fall  of  Jerusalem  in  b.  c.  586. 

The  Exile  produced  a  profound  impression  upon 
the  Jewish  people.  After  it  they  were  never  again 
the  same  either  politically  or  religiously.  The  mon- 
archy was  at  an  end,  and  henceforth  the  Jews  were 
subject  to  a  foreign  power.  Their  own  local  gov- 
ernment fell  gradually  into  the  hands  of  the  priests. 
What  we  thus  have  in  the  postexilic  period  was  not 
a  Jewish  state  but  a  church.  The  political  ambitions 
of  preexilic  times  were  at  an  end.  There  was  no 
aggressive  nationalism,  no  militaristic  spirit,  against 
which  the  prophets  were  forced  to  contend  as  in 

71 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

earlier  days.  Then,  too,  the  religious  situation  was 
not  the  same.  In  the  preexilic  period  the  prophets 
had  stood  face  to  face  with  a  formidable  heathen 
current  in  the  life  of  the  people.  Idolatry  was  com- 
mon, and  heathen  rites  and  customs  were  in  vogue 
in  connection  with  the  worship  of  Jehovah.  But 
this  was  changed  by  the  Exile.  What  the  spoken 
words  of  the  prophets  had  not  been  able  to  accom- 
plish was  effected  by  the  logic  of  events.  The  cap- 
tivity proved  irresistibly  the  truth  of  the  prophetic 
message;  and  when  the  Jews  emerged  from  their 
exile,  it  was  as  a  monotheistic  people.  The  prophetic 
faith  was  now  the  faith  of  the  community  as  a 
whole.  Evils,  of  course,  still  existed,  but  they  were 
of  a  different  kind.  The  religious  needs  of  the  peo- 
ple, consequently,  were  no  longer  the  same  as  they 
had  been.  We  observed  how  Ezekiel,  after  the  fall 
of  Jerusalem,  changed  the  character  of  his  message. 
A  similar  change  is  naturally  to  be  expected  in  the 
case  of  the  postexilic  prophets  in  general  as  com- 
pared with  their  predecessors.  They  adapted  their 
messages  to  the  altered  conditions  of  their  own  time; 
and  this  gave  to  postexilic  prophecy  a  somewhat  dif- 
ferent cast  from  that  of  the  earlier  and  "classic'* 
prophecy,  as  it  may  be  called. 

Deutero-Isaiah.- — It  is  a  great  prophet  of  unknown 
name  who  introduces  us  to  the  postexilic  period.  His 
prophecies,  issued  anonymously,  came  somehow  to 

72 


THE  POSTEXILIC  PROPHETS 

be  attached  to  the  book  of  Isaiah,  where  they  now 
form  chapters  40-66.  For  this  reason  he  is  usually 
known  as  the  Second  or  Deutero-Isaiah,  just  as  the 
fifth  book  of  Moses  is  called  Deutero-nomy,  or  the 
"second  law."  Deutero-Isaiah  apparently  began  his 
ministry  shortly  before  the  capture  of  Babylon  in 
B.  c.  538.  For  he  represents  Cyrus  as  already  on 
the  scene  (44.  28;  45.  i)  ;  victory  is  attending  his 
steps  (41.  2)  ;  through  him  Jehovah  is  about  to  per- 
form his  pleasure  on  Babylon  (48.  14).  But  how 
long  after  the  fall  of  the  city  Deutero-Isaiah  contin- 
ued his  ministry  is  not  certain.  Chapters  56-66  seem 
to  imply  that  he  was  still  active  after  the  rebuilding 
of  the  Temple  in  b.  c.  520-516  (56.  5,  7;  60.  7,  13). 
His  home,  it  is  commonly  assumed,  was  in  Baby- 
lonia, at  least  before  the  return  of  the  exiles.  But 
this  is  by  no  means  certain.  His  prophecies  give  no 
definite  indication  on  this  point.  To  an  extraordi- 
nary degree  he  detached  himself  from  his  local  sur- 
roundings and  hid  himself  behind  his  message.  As 
we  read  his  book  we  see  no  form ;  we  simply  hear  a 
voice.  It  is  quite  possible  that  he  may  have  lived  in 
Palestine  or  Phoenicia,  or  even  Egypt.  But  wher- 
ever he  lived  he  had  a  watchtower  from  which  he 
surveyed  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  so  that  in  a 
real  sense  the  whole  world  was  his  parish. 

In    richness    of    feeling,    in    depth    of    religious 
insight,  and  in  inspiring  power  there  is  no  prophetic 

73 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

book  that  equals  that  of  Deutero-Isaiah.  .  He  repre- 
sents the  cHmax  of  prophetic  thought  and  the  high- 
water  mark  of  Old  Testament  spirituality.  At  bot- 
tom his  message  was  like  that  of  Ezekiel  after  the 
fall  of  Jerusalem.  It  was  one  of  hope.  "Comfort 
ye,  comfort  ye  my  people,  saith  your  God.  Speak 
ye  comfortably  to  Jerusalem."  (40.  if.)  These 
opening  words  of  his  book  represent  its  prevailing 
tone  throughout.  But  hope  with  him  was  no  mere 
sentiment;  it  rested  on  a  wonderful  conception  of 
the  greatness  and  grace  of  God.  In  no  other  book 
do  we  find  the  creatorship  of  Jehovah,  his  eternity, 
his  transcendent  power,  and  his  infinite  mercy  em- 
phasized as  we  do  here.  With  words  of  moving 
tenderness  he  lays  bare  the  heart  of  God. 

It  was  not  only  hope  for  the  future  that  Deutero- 
Isaiah  sought  to  awaken  among  the  discouraged 
Jews.  He  interpreted  their  present  sufferings  in 
a  way  that  must  have  made  it  easier  to  bear  them. 
They,  he  told  them,  were  the  "servant"  nation.  They 
had  a  world  mission  to  perform,  and  the  hardships 
they  were  now  enduring  were  only  incidental  to  the 
performance  of  that  mission.  Their  suffering  was 
vicarious.  It  was  for  the  transgressions  of  others 
that  they  were  being  wounded  and  for  the  iniquities 
of  others  that  they  were  being  bruised.  It  is  this 
idea  of  self-sacrificing  service  for  the  redemption  of 
mankind  that,  above  everything  else,  gives  to  Deu- 

74 


THE  POSTEXILIC  PROPHETS 

tero-Isaiah's  prophecies  a  unique  character.  No- 
where else  in  the  Old  Testament  do  we  find  such  an 
interpretation  of  Israel's  sufferings,  and  nowhere 
else  is  such  stress  laid  on  the  universality  of  the 
approaching  redemption.  *'Look  unto  me,"  says 
Jehovah,  "and  be  ye  saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth; 
for  I  am  God,  and  there  is  none  else"  (45.  22). 
This  note,  so  often  struck  by  Deutero-Isaiah,  makes 
it  proper  to  regard  him  as  "the  prophet  of  univer- 
salism." 

Haggai,  Zechariah,  and  Malachi. — The  high  hopes 
of  a  glorious  future,  raised  by  Deutero-Isaiah,  were 
not,  however,  destined  to  be  realized  by  the  return- 
ing exiles,  nor  were  they  realized  at  any  time  during 
the  postexilic  period.  During  virtually  the  whole 
of  this  period  the  Palestinian  Jews  were  subject  to 
foreign  governments  and  lived  under  very  discourag- 
ing circumstances.  But  hope  did  not  on  that  account 
die  out,  nor  did  the  people  lose  their  national  or 
racial  consciousness  nor  their  interest  in  organized 
religion;  rather  did  these  tendencies  become  all  the 
more  pronounced.  Organized  religion  took  the  form 
of  an  elaborate  legalistic  system,  the  national  feel- 
ing became  more  exclusive  than  ever,  and  hope  took 
on  a  more  distinctly  Messianic,  or  apocalyptic  char- 
acter. Indeed,  these  three  tendencies  were  the  main 
characteristics  of  postexilic  Judaism :  legalism,  exclu- 
siveness,  and  Messianism.     It  was  therefore  inevi- 

75 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

table  that  the  prophetic  literature  of  the  time  should 
be  affected  by  them,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  the 
remaining  prophetic  books  may  be  classified  along 
these  three  lines. 

Haggai,  Zechariah,  and  Malachi  reflect  the  legal- 
istic tendency.  This  tendency  had  already  received 
a  great  impetus  from  Ezekiel.  He  had  made  the 
rebuilding  of  the  Temple  a  conspicuous  part  of  his 
plans  for  the  restored  community  (chapters  40-43), 
and  it  was  at  this  point  that  the  work  of  Haggai  and 
Zechariah  began.  Of  the  personal  life  of  Haggai 
we  know  nothing,  and  of  Zechariah  we  are  simply 
told  that  he  was  "the  son  of  Berechiah,  the  son  of 
Iddo."  According  to  Neh.  12.  4  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Iddo  was  chief  of  one  of  the  priestly  families  that 
returned  from  exile  in  b.  c.  537,  and  if  the  prophet 
Zechariah  was  his  grandson  he  probably  was  born 
in  Babylonia  and  came  to  Jerusalem  as  a  child.  But 
there  is  nothing  in  his  or  Haggai's  sermons  to  indi- 
cate that  either  of  them  was  a  returned  exile.  The 
substance  of  four  of  Haggai's  sermons  has  been 
handed  down  to  us.  They  were  all  delivered  during 
the  latter  half  of  the  year  b.  c.  520  and  all  bore 
directly  or  indirectly  upon  the  rebuilding  of  the 
Temple.  So  eloquent  were  these  discourses  that 
twenty- three  days  after  the  first  of  them  work  was 
actually  begun  on  the  Temple.  It  was  Haggai's 
belief  that  the  failure  to  rebuild  the  Temple  had 

7^ 


THE  POSTEXILIC  PROPHETS 

stood  in  the  way  of  the  coming  of  the  Messianic 
kingdom,  and  that  its  rebuilding  would  be  followed 
by  the  advent  of  the  new  age  with  Zerubbabel  as  its 
Messianic  king.  This  general  view  was  also  shared 
by  Zechariah,  whose  earliest  prophecy  is  dated 
shortly  after  Haggai's  second  sermon  (i.  i),  and 
whose  latest  dated  prophecy  was  delivered  about  two 
years  later  (7.  i).  It  was  his  chief  aim  also  to 
encourage  the  Jews  in  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple 
by  assuring  them  that  the  new  and  long-expected  bet- 
ter day  would  soon  come. 

As  to  "Malachi"  we  are  not  even  certain  that  this 
was  the  prophet's  name.  The  word  "Malachi"  means 
"my  messenger"  and  in  this  general  sense  is  used  in 
3.  I,  where  it  may  have  been  mistaken  by  some  edi- 
tor for  the  prophet's  name  and  so  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  book.  In  that  case  the  prophecy  was  orig- 
inally anonymous.  It  is  a  common  opinion  that 
"Malachi"  was  the  last  of  the  prophets,  and  that  his 
book  was  the  latest  in  the  Old  Testament ;  but  this  is 
a  mistaken  view.  It  is  now  quite  generally  agreed 
among  scholars  that  he  lived  at  about  the  time  of 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah — somewhere  near  b.  c.  450; 
for  he  condemns  the  same  evils  as  they,  such  as 
mixed  marriages  and  the  failure  to  pay  tithes.  On 
the  importance  of  a  pure  Temple  worship  and  the 
externals  of  religion  he  is  quite  insistent.  He  thus 
represents  the  same  priestly  interest  as  Haggai  and 

77 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

Zechariah.  But  he  as  well  as  they  by  no  means 
made  these  externals  the  essence  of  religion.  Re- 
ligious institutions  and  rites  demanded  in  their  day 
special  attention.  Hence,  like  true  prophets,  they 
made  them  the  particular  theme  of  their  preaching; 
but  in  so  doing  they  did  not  overlook  the  weightier 
matters  of  the  law.  Righteousness  for  them  as  for 
the  earlier  prophets  was  the  basic  requirement  of 
Jehovah. 

Obadiah  and  Jonah. — The  anti  foreign  and  exclu- 
sive tendency  in  postexilic  Judaism  seems  to  have 
been  encouraged  by  some  of  the  prophets  and 
opposed  by  others.  This  is  illustrated  by  the  books 
of  Obadiah  and  Jonah.  Obadiah  is  the  shortest  book 
in  the  Old  Testament,  consisting  of  only  one  chapter. 
Of  its  author's  life  we  know  nothing.  He  prob- 
ably lived  about  the  time  of  Malachi  or  shortly  before 
(b.  c.  460),  as  Mai.  i.  2-5  apparently  refers  to  the 
same  situation  as  that  dealt  with  by  Obadiah.  The 
book  of  Obadiah  contains  two  parts.  The  first  (i- 
14,  15a)  is  a  doom  on  Edom  for  its  hostility  to 
Judah,  and  the  second  (i5b-2i)  is  a  doom  on  the 
nations  in  general,  including  Edom.  This  doom  is 
to  be  accompanied  by  the  establishment  of  the  Mes- 
sianic kingdom.  The  spirit  of  the  book  is  expressed 
by  the  words  addressed  to  Edom  in  verse  15:  "As 
thou  hast  done,  it  shall  be  done  unto  thee ;  thy  deal- 
ing shall  return  upon  thine  own  head."    There  is  in 

7^ 


THE  POSTEXILIC  PROPHETS 

it  not  a  word  of  sympathy  or  of  hope  for  the  heathen 
world. 

In  striking  contrast  to  this  spirit  is  the  book  of 
Jonah.  The  author  of  this  book  Hved  perhaps  about 
B.  c.  300,  but  of  him  we  know  nothing  whatsoever, 
not  even  his  name.  Unhke  all  the  other  prophetic 
books,  Jonah  is  almost  wholly  narrative.  The  story 
it  relates  is  to  be  regarded  as  imaginative  throughout, 
as  were  the  parables  of  Jesus,  except  that  there  was 
a  prophet  by  the  name  of  ''Jonsh  the  son  of  Amit- 
tai,"  who  lived  about  b.  c.  775  and  who  predicted 
the  expansion  of  Israel's  territory  under  Jeroboam 
11.  Why  this  preliterary  prophet  was  chosen  as  the 
subject  of  the  story  is  not  certain,  but  in  view  of 
what  is  recorded  of  him  in  2  Kings  14.  25  he  may 
naturally  have  been  looked  upon  as  a  representa- 
tive of  that  narrow  nationalism  which  rejoiced  in 
the  overthrow  of  Israel's  enemies.  In  any  case 
this  is  the  function  that  he  serves  in  the  story.  Jonah 
stands  for  narrow  and  exclusive  Israel,  while  Nine- 
veh represents  the  hated  heathen  world.  It  was 
Israel's  mission  to  be  "a  light  to  the  Gentiles."  This 
was  plainly  and  impressively  stated  by  Deutero- 
Isaiah.  But  Israel  did  not  respond  to  the  call. 
She  fled  from  it,  as  did  Jonah.  She  was  swallowed 
up  by  Babylon  (Jer.  51.  34,  44),  as  Jonah  was  by 
the  great  fish.  But  she  was  still  unchanged  in  heart. 
She  was  quite  willing  to  pronounce  doom  upon  the 

79 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

heathen,  as  Jonah  did  upon  Nineveh,  but  the  repent- 
ance and  redemption  of  the  heathen  her  hate  could 
not  tolerate.  It  is  this  spirit  that  the  book  of 
Jonah  most  beautifully  and  impressively  rebukes. 
Israel,  like  Jonah,  was  wonderfully  tender  toward 
herself  when  any  misfortune  befell  her,  and  she  was 
also  not  without  capacity  for  affection,  as  is  evi- 
denced by  Jonah's  concern  for  the  gourd.  But  if 
she  was  capable  of  affection  for  so  insignificant  a 
thing  as  a  gourd,  which  had  had  but  a  transient  rela- 
tion to  her  life,  "should  not  I,"  asks  Jehovah,  "have 
regard  for  Nineveh,  that  great  city,  wherein  are 
more  than  sixscore  thousand  persons  that  cannot 
discern  between  their  right  hand  and  their  left  hand; 
and  also  much  cattle"  (4.  11)  ?  There  is  nothing  in 
all  the  Old  Testament  which  surpasses  this  in  the 
tenderness  and  the  power  of  its  appeal.  The  man 
who  wrote  it  is  to  be  classed  among  the  greatest  of 
the  prophets.  Peake  well  says  "That  out  of  the 
stony  heart  of  Judaism  such  a  book  should  come  is 
nothing  less  than  a  marvel  of  divine  grace." 

Joel  and  Daniel. — Messianism,  or  apocalypticism, 
the  third  main  characteristic  of  postexilic  Judaism 
above  mentioned,  was  the  natural  outgrowth  of 
prophetism.  Between  the  two  there  is  no  antithesis. 
There  is  more  or  less  of  the  apocalyptic  in  all  proph- 
ecy, and  there  is  more  or  less  of  the  prophetic  in 
all  apocalypse.     The  transition  from  prophecy  to 

80 


THE  POSTEXILIC  PROPHETS 

apocalypse  was  a  gradual  one.  A  considerable  im- 
petus in  this  direction,  as  we  have  seen,  was  given  by 
Zephaniah.  There  is  also  not  a  little  of  the  distinctly 
apocalyptic  in  Ezekiel.  We  furthermore  have  an 
important  apocalypse  in  Isa.  24-27,  which  was  prob- 
ably written  in  the  third  century  b.  c._,  and  from  a 
little  later  date  we  have  a  less  important  one  in 
Zech.  9-14.  But  the  two  complete  books  that  repre- 
sent this  tendency  best  are  Joel  and  Daniel. 

The  book  of  Joel  represents  a  less  developed  form 
of  the  apocalypse  than  Daniel.  Indeed,  it  is  not  long 
ago  that  it  was  regarded  as  the  earliest  prophetic 
book,  antedating  Amos.  But  this  view  is  now  gen- 
erally abandoned.  The  book  of  Joel  belongs  to  the 
postexilic  period  and  may  have  been  written  about 
B.  c.  400,  though  it  is  quite  possible  that  its  date  should 
be  put  a  century  or  a  century  and  a  half  later.  Con- 
cerning the  prophet  himself  we  are  simply  told  that 
he  was  "the  son  of  Pethuel."  His  interest  in  the 
Temple  and  the  sacrifices  suggests  that  he  was  a 
priest.  The  occasion  of  his  prophecy  was  a  visita- 
tion of  locusts  that  devastated  the  land.  A  vivid 
description  of  this  plague  is  given.  But  what  lends 
significance  to  it  is  the  fact  that  it  is  regarded  as 
the  immediate  forerunner  of  the  day  of  Jehovah — a 
day  that  is  described  in  true  apocalyptic  fashion  as 
"a  day  of  darkness  and  gloominess,  a  day  of  clouds 
and  thick  darkness.    ...   I  will  show  wonders  in 

81 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

the  heavens  and  in  the  earth:  blood,  and  fire,  and 
pillars  of  smoke.  The  sun  shall  be  turned  into  dark- 
ness, and  the  moon  into  blood"  (2.  2,  30,  31).  Upon 
the  heathen  it  is  to  be  a  day  of  doom,  but  upon 
Israel  it  is  to  be  a  day  of  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit : 
''Your  sons  and  your  daughters  shall  prophesy,  your 
old  men  shall  dream  dreams"  (2.  28).  While  inter- 
ested in  the  externals  of  religion  Joel  by  no  means 
forgot  the  old  prophetic  stress  on  the  inner  life. 
"Rend  your  heart,  and  not  your  garments"  is  a  clas- 
sic expression  that  we  owe  to  him  (2.  13). 

The  book  of  Daniel  is  not  included  among  the 
prophetic  books  in  the  Hebrew  Bible.  This  probably 
was  due  to  its  date.  The  prophetic  canon — that  is, 
the  collection  of  prophetic  books  regarded  as  sacred 
— was  closed  by  the  year  b.  c.  200.  Any  prophetic 
book,  therefore,  written  after  that  date,  if  accepted 
as  inspired,  necessarily  would  be  put  into  another 
group.  So  in  the  Hebrew  Bible,  which  consists  of 
three  divisions — the  Law,  the  Prophets,  and  the 
Writings — we  find  the  book  of  Daniel  in  the  last.  It 
is  now  quite  generally  agreed  by  scholars  that  the 
book  of  Daniel  was  written  about  b.  c.  165.  It  is 
a  book  concerning  Daniel  rather  than  one  by  him. 
The  Daniel  here  referred  to  is  supposed  to  have  lived 
about  B.  c.  550.  Chapters  1-6  narrate  his  history, 
and  chapters  7-12  give  an  account  of  his  visions. 
The  book  makes  a  powerful  appeal  to  the  imagina- 

82 


THE  POSTEXILIC  PROPHETS 

tion  and  was  admirably  adapted  to  meet  the  needs  of 
the  critical  situation  in  which  it  originated.  In  b.  c. 
1 68  Antiochus  Epiphanes  attempted  the  complete 
destruction  of  the  Jewish  religion.  The  rite  of  cir- 
cumcision and  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  were 
prohibited,  and  the  Temple  was  desecrated  by  the 
erection  of  an  altar  to  the  Olympic  Zeus  and  by  the 
sacrifice  of  a  swine  within  its  sacred  precincts,  the 
latter  act  being  called  by  the  author  of  Daniel  "the 
abomination  of  desolation'*  (ii.  31;  12.  11).  The 
inevitable  result  of  this  line  of  action  on  the  part 
of  Antiochus  Epiphanes  was  a  revolt.  The  revolt 
was  led  by  the  Maccabees,  and  it  was  to  encourage 
them  and  their  followers  that  the  book  of  Daniel  was 
written.  The  author  recounted  the  heroic  and  inspir- 
ing example  of  Daniel  and  put  in  his  mouth  the 
assurance  that  the  present  Greek  kingdom  would 
soon  come  to  an  end  and  would  be  superseded  by  a 
new  and  universal  kingdom — a  kingdom  to  be  ruled 
over  by  "one  like  unto  a  son  of  man,"  "an  everlasting 
dominion,  which  shall  not  pass  away"  (7.  13,  14). 
As  a  further  inspiration  to  heroism  and  a  warning 
against  apostasy  he  also  announced  the  great  truth, 
not  yet  held  by  many  Jews,  that  "many  of  them  that 
sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth  shall  awake,  some  to 
everlasting  life,  and  some  to  shame  and  everlasting 
contempt"  (12.  2).  This  stirring  book,  despite  the 
difficulties  connected  with  the  interpretation  of  some 

83 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

of  its  details,  forms  in  its  essential  nature  a  fitting 
close  to  that  long  list  of  prophetic  utterances  which 
give  to  Israelitic  history  its  unique  character  and 
abiding  worth,  and  which  bear  the  unmistakable 
stamp  of  their  divine  origin. 

Topics  and  Questions  for  Discussion 

Why  is  there  less  of  uniformity  among  the  post- 
exilic  prophets  than  in  the  two  earlier  groups  of 
literary  prophets? 

The  extent,  subdivisions,  and  main  facts  of  the 
postexilic  period  of  Israel's  history.  (Consult  Peritz 
or  some  other  Old  Testament  history.) 

In  what  respects  was  both  the  political  and  reli- 
gious situation  of  the  Jews  changed  by  the  Exile  ? 

Who  was  ''Deutero-Isaiah,"  and  when  and  where 
did  he  live? 

The  religious  importance  of  Isa.  40-66. 

The  message  of  hope  in  Deutero-Isaiah  and  its 
relation  to  his  conception  of  God.  (Read  Isa.  40- 
55  and  mark  the  passages  that  express  most  strik- 
ingly the  ideas  of  hope  and  of  the  divine  grace.) 

What  are  the  two  most  characteristic  elements  in 
Deutero-Isaiah's  teaching? 

The  three  main  tendencies  in  the  religious  life  and 
thought  of  the  postexilic  Jews. 

The  date  of  Haggai  and  Zechariah,  their  work 
and  teaching,  and  their  relation  to  Ezekiel. 

84 


THE  POSTEXILIC  PROPHETS 

The  date  of  the  book  of  Malachi,  the  general  char- 
acter of  its  teaching,  and  its  relation  to  Haggai  and 
Zechariah,  on  the  one  hand,  and  Ezra  and  Nehemiah^ 
on  the  other. 

The  date  of  Obadiah:  its  general  character  and 
spirit. 

Contrast  the  spirit  of  the  book  of  Jonah  with 
that  of  Obadiah. 

When  was  the  book  of  Jonah  written,  and  why 
was  the  preliterary  prophet  Jonah  selected  as  the 
subject  of  the  story? 

How  is  the  book  of  Jonah  to  be  interpreted,  and 
what  is  to  be  said  of  its  importance? 

The  date  and  general  character  of  Isa.  24-27  and 
Zech.  9-14. 

The  date,  occasion,  and  general  character  of  the 
book  of  Joel. 

Why  is  the  book  of  Daniel  not  included  in  the  list 
of  prophetic  books  in  the  Hebrew  Bible  ? 

In  what  group  is  it  included? 

The  date  of  the  book  of  Daniel:  its  two  main 
divisions,  its  occasion,  its  purpose,  and  its  central 
teaching. 

Bibliography 

The  Book  of  the  Twelve  Prophets,  by  G.  A.  Smith 
(Volume  H,  pages  163-72,  225-33,  255-63,  331-47. 
375-97.493-513). 

85 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

The  Prophets  of  Israel,  by  G.  H.  Cornill  (pages 

131-79)- 

The  Prophets  of  the  Old  Testament,  by  A.  R. 

Gordon  (page  252-352). 

Prophecy  and  the  Prophets,  by  F.  C.  Eiselen 
(pages  222-25,  246-50,  272-79,  286-90,  293-302). 

The  Beacon  Lights  of  Prophecy,  by  A.  C.  Knud- 
son  (pages  240-77). 


86 


CHAPTER   VI 
PROPHECY  AND  THE  NATION 

Thus  far  we  have  dealt  with  the  history  of  the 
prophetic  movement.  We  have  studied  briefly  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  prophets,  the  preliterary 
prophets,  and  the  three  groups  of  the  literary 
prophets.  In  presenting  this  historical  outline  we 
discussed  incidentally  the  nature  of  prophecy  and 
in  a  general  way  the  teaching  of  the  individual 
prophets.  But  no  attempt  was  made  to  treat  in  a 
systematic  way  the  relation  of  prophecy  to  the  nation 
and  its  contributions  to  religion.  To  do  this  is  now 
our  task.  In  the  present  chapter  we  deal  with  the 
prophetic  attitude  toward  the  nation  and  the 
prophetic  teaching  concerning  it.  In  the  following 
chapters  we  take  up  four  of  the  most  important 
aspects  of  religious  life  and  belief  and  consider  each 
of  these  in  so  far  as  prophecy  had  a  bearing  upon 
them. 

The  national  character  of  prophecy. — ^It  has  already 
been  pointed  out  that  the  prophetic  movement  was 
primarily  concerned  with  the  nation,  not  the  indi- 
vidual. It  was  the  national  need  in  the  time  of  Sam- 
uel which  gave  rise  to  the  movement.     It  was  the 

87 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

national  peril  in  the  ninth  century  which  led  to  the 
prophetic  activity  under  the  leadership  of  Elijah  and 
Elisha.  It  was  the  threatened  overthrow  of  the 
nation  at  the  hands  of  the  Assyrians  which  stirred 
the  eighth-century  prophets  to  speech  and  action. 
It  was  a  similar  peril  to  the  nation  a  century  later 
at  the  hands  of  the  Scythians  and  Babylonians  which 
led  Zephaniah  and  Jeremiah  to  prophesy  and  which 
formed  the  disturbing  background  of  the  earlier 
part  of  Ezekiel's  ministry.  It  was  the  prospect  of  a 
national  restoration  which  inspired  the  messages  of 
Deutero-Isaiah.  It  was  the  attempted  destruction 
of  the  national  religion  which  the  book  of  Daniel 
sought  to  thwart.  Thus,  throughout  its  entire  his- 
tory prophecy  was  actuated  by  national  considera- 
tions. It  was  the  national  life  that  gave  birth  to 
prophecy.  Without  the  contagion  of  national  feel- 
ing there  would  have  been  no  prophetic  movement. 
It  was  the  value  consciously  or  unconsciously  attrib- 
uted to  the  nation  which  formed  the  presupposition 
of  the  movement  as  a  whole. 

This,  however,  does  not  mean  that  the  spirit  of 
prophecy  was  identical  with  that  of  patriotism,  nor 
that  the  nation  as  such  was  necessarily  the  object 
of  chief  worth  in  life.  We  need  to  distinguish 
between  political  and  racial  nationalism,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  nationalism  as  expressive  of  the  social 
idea,  on  the  other.    It  was  the  latter  that  was  basic 

88 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  NATION 

with  the  prophets.  It  was  the  social  impulse  that  was 
controlHng  with  them.  What  they  sought  was  the 
common  good,  not  the  good  of  any  one  class  nor  of 
the  individual  as  such.  The  individual  cannot  exist 
apart  from  society.  It  is  the  social  life  that  alone 
makes  the  life  of  the  individual  either  possible  or 
worth  while.  But  the  social  life  with  the  prophets 
was  not  limited  to  human  beings.  It  took  in  the 
divine,  and  at  times  it  became  important  that  empha^ 
sis  should  be  placed  upon  the  direct  relation  of  the 
individual  to  God,  as  was  done  by  Jeremiah  and 
Ezekiel.  But  the  relation  of  the  individual  to  God 
was  not  with  them  something  isolated;  it  was  only 
part  of  a  broader  human-divine  fellowship.  And 
this  human-divine  fellowship  would  have  been 
abstract  and  unreal  to  the  prophets  if  it  had  not  been 
identified  with  the  actual  covenant  relation  between 
Israel  and  Jehovah.  The  people  of  that  day  had  not 
yet  come  to  the  point  where  it  was  possible  for  them 
to  detach  the  social  or  religious  idea  from  its  embodi- 
ment in  a  definite  political  or  racial  group.  In  their 
thought  the  idea  of  God  and  his  kingdom  carried 
with  it  the  idea  of  Israel.  For  them  the  divine  pur- 
pose was  bound  up  with  the  Israelitic  nation.  This 
was  the  belief  of  the  prophets  as  well  as  of  the  people 
in  general.  They  therefore  naturally  and  logically 
looked  forward  to  the  permanent  existence  of  the 
Hebrew  nation.     Without  the  nation  in  some  cor- 

89 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

porate  form  religion  itself  would  have  seemed  to 
them  to  vanish. 

The  contrast  between  the  real  and  the  ideal. — 

But  while  the  prophets  held  to  the  certainty  and 
necessity  of  the  continued  existence  of  the  Israelitic 
nation  they  distinguished  in  this  connection  between 
real  Israel  and  ideal  Israel.  It  was  ideal  Israel  that 
alone  enjoyed  complete  fellowship  with  Jehovah  and 
that  would  permanently  endure;  real  Israel  had 
failed  to  meet  the  divine  requirements  and  was 
doomed  to  destruction.  This  contrast  between  the 
fate  of  the  nation  as  it  was  and  the  destiny  of  the 
nation  as  it  ought  to  be  and  would  be,  was  first  clearly 
drawn  by  the  writing  prophets.  But  their  predeces- 
sors, however  confident  they  may  have  been  that 
actual  Israel  would  never  be  destroyed,  were  by  no 
means  blind  to  its  sins  and  to  the  necessity  of  their 
punishment.  Deborah  distinguished  sharply  between 
the  heroic  and  the  craven  elements  in  the  nation 
and  pronounced  a  curse  upon  the  inhabitants  of 
Meroz  "because  they  came  not  to  the  help  of  Jeho- 
vah, to  the  help  of  Jehovah  against  the  mighty." 
Ahijah,  despite  the  glamour  of  Solomon's  reign,  saw 
in  it  evils  so  grave  that  he  instigated  the  revolt  of 
Jeroboam.  And  Elijah  was  so  outraged  by  the 
defection  from  Jehovah  in  the  time  of  Ahab  that  it 
seemed  to  him  necessary  that  a  punishment  should 
befall  Israel  so  severe  that  out  of  it  only  a  remnant 

90 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  NATION 

of  seven  thousand  would  escape  (i  Kings  19.  15- 
18).  It  was,  however,  the  eighth-century  prophets 
who  first  made  the  doom  of  the  nation  the  main 
theme  of  their  preaching.  They  looked  upon  Israel 
as  a  fallen  race.  The  loyalty  and  whole-hearted 
devotion  of  the  people  during  the  Mosaic  period  had 
been  of  short  duration.  It  was  soon  followed  by  a 
fatal  lapse  (Hos.  9.  10;  11.  i,  2).  The  glories  of 
the  Davidic  and  Solomonic  age  also  belonged  to 
the  past.  The  nation  now  stood  condemned.  The 
bond  between  it  and  Jehovah  was  virtually  broken, 
and  the  day  of  judgment  was  at  hand.  But  the  more 
the  prophets  despaired  of  real  Israel,  the  more  con- 
fident they  became  of  the  reality  and  perpetuity  of 
ideal  Israel.  The  nation  as  it  was  would  soon  come 
to  an  end,  but  on  its  ruins  would  arise  a  new  and 
more  glorious  nation — a  nation  in  which  righteous- 
ness and  peace  would  reign,  and  which  would  abide 
forever.  It  was  this  ideal  Israel  that  the  prophets 
had  constantly  before  their  minds,  and  in  the  light 
of  it  they  could  not  but  condemn  the  real  Israel 
as  they  saw  it  about  them.  Their  idealism  made 
them  ''the  troublers  of  Israel." 

The  course  of  events,  however,  did  not  confirm 
their  hopes.  The  fall  of  Judah  was  not  followed  by 
the  Messianic  era.  In  the  postexilic  community  there 
was  still  a  striking  contrast  between  the  real  and 
the  ideal.     Prophets  were  consequently  still  needed 

91 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

to  proclaim  faith  in  the  ideal.  But  in  so  doing  they 
were  actuated  by  a  somewhat  different  motive  from 
the  preexihc  prophets.  Their  purpose  was  not  so 
much  to  condemn  the  wicked  as  to  encourage  the 
faint-hearted.  The  reason  for  this  was  the  fact 
that  the  contrast  that  now  existed  between  the  real 
and  the  ideal  was  not  so  much  ethical  as  it  was  mate- 
rial. It  was  the  poverty  and  wretchedness  of  the 
present  rather  than  its  moral  evils  which  stood  in 
such  glaring  contrast  with  the  ideal  kingdom  that 
had  been  expected.  Wickedness  in  abundance  there 
still  was  in  the  world,  but  it  was  wickedness  outside 
of  Israel  rather  than  in  it.  What  the  Jews  therefore 
needed  was  not  so  much  condemnation  as  encourage- 
ment, and  this  the  postexilic  prophets  sought  to  give 
them  by  reviving  faith  in  the  speedy  coming  of  the 
Messianic  kingdom. 

Methods  of  realizing  the  ideal.^ — The  question  now 
arises  how  the  prophets  expected  the  new  and  better 
order  to  be  introduced.  Three  different  methods 
may  be  distinguished :  force,  moral  suasion,  miracle. 
Miracle,  it  is  true,  might  be  regarded  as  an  exercise 
of  force ;  but  force,  as  commonly  understood,  refers 
to  human  agency,  while  miracle  implies  the  divine. 
It  is  also  possible  to  look  upon  miracle  as  a  divine 
accompaniment  of  human  force  or  moral  suasion 
rather  than  as  a  third  and  distinct  method;  and  it 
is   of   course   true    that   human    force   and   moral 

92 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  NATION 

suasion  do  not  necessarily  exclude  an  admixture  of 
divine  aid.  Indeed,  moral  suasion  is  the  form  under 
which  the  divine  Spirit  as  a  rule  most  distinctly 
manifests  itself.  But  the  prophetic  teaching  will  be 
better  understood  if  we  distinguish  miraculous 
divine  agency  from  the  other  two  methods.  Of 
these  methods  force,  as  we  have  already  seen,  was 
occasionally  resorted  to  by  the  preliterary  proph- 
ets. Ahijah  was  active  in  connection  with  the 
revolt  of  Jeroboam,  and  Elisha  instigated  the  revo- 
lution of  Jehu.  This  method,  however,  seems  to 
have  been  renounced  by  the  literary  prophets. 
Rosea,  for  instance,  severely  condemned  the  bloody 
acts  of  Jehu,  which  a  century  before  seem  to 
have  received  prophetic  approbation  (Hos.  i.  4;  2 
Kings  10.  30).  And  none  of  the  writing  prophets 
resorted  to  political  intrigue  or  attempted  to  stir  up 
revolution.  Their  method  was  that  of  the  spirit, 
an  appeal  to  the  consciences  of  men.  By  word 
of  mouth  and  dramatic  act  they  sought  to  arouse  the 
people  to  a  sense  of  the  national  danger  and  sum- 
moned them  to  repentance  and  reformation. 

But  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the 
prophets  believed  that  mere  preaching  would  be  suf- 
ficient to  bring  in  the  new  era.  Their  own  experi- 
ence taught  them  something  very  different  from 
that.  For  the  most  part  the  people  turned  a  deaf 
ear  to  their  messages,  and  the  influence  they  exer- 

93 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

cised  in  their  own  day  was  comparatively  slight. 
Moral  instruction  has  its  value  in  the  world,  but 
without  the  discipline  of  life  itself  it  is  relatively 
ineffective.  What  eventually  made  the  prophetic 
teaching  effective  was  the  fact  that  it  was  confirmed 
by  the  hard  experiences  of  the  Exile.  But  these 
experiences,  no  matter  how  much  Israel  took  them 
to  heart,  did  not  bring  in  the  new  era.  For  Israel 
did  not  hold  its  fate  in  its  own  hands;  it  was  part 
of  a  world  system,  and  so  long  as  this  world  system 
remained  predominantly  evil  there  was  no  possi- 
bility of  an  ideal  national  life.  The  world  as  a 
whole  must,  therefore,  first  be  redeemed;  and  this 
lay  not  only  beyond  human  power  but  beyond  the 
power  of  the  ordinary  workings  of  the  divine  Spirit. 
For  it  an  extraordinary  act  of  God  was  needed. 
So  the  prophets  looked  forward  to  a  marvelous  di- 
vine intervention.  This  was  true  of  all  the  literary 
prophets  and  especially  those  of  the  postexilic  period. 
Moral  suasion,  however  divinely  inspired,  could  not 
bring  about  the  result  to  which  they  looked  forward. 
The  ultimate  hope  of  the  world  lay  in  the  miraculous 
intervention  of  Jehovah.  And  that  this  w^ould  come, 
they  all  believed,  and  believed  that  it  would  come 
soon. 

War. — In  this  connection  a  word  should  be  added 
concerning  the  prophetic  attitude  toward  war.  The 
literary  prophets,  as  we  have  just  seen,  eschewed 

94 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  NATION 

the  use  of  force  so  far  as  they  themselves  were  con- 
cerned. But  they  not  only  did  that :  they  also  con- 
demned the  political  intrigue  and  militaristic  policy 
of  their  own  government.  The  leaders  of  the  day 
believed  that  by  means  of  foreign  alliances  and  by  a 
revolt  now  against  Assyria  and  now  against  Baby- 
lonia they  would  be  able  to  improve  the  condition 
of  the  nation.  Especially  did  they  count  on  the 
aid  of  Egypt.  But,  said  Isaiah,  "the  Egyptians  are 
men,  and  not  God;  and  their  horses  flesh,  and  not 
spirit"  (31.  3).  By  this  he  meant  that  the  control- 
ling forces  in  the  world  are  spiritual,  not  material. 
It  is  not  forty-two-centimeter  guns  nor  submarines 
nor  giant  battle  planes  that  ultimately  determine 
the  course  of  events,  but  the  divine  purpose.  The 
thing  for  Israel  to  do,  therefore,  was  to  avoid  for- 
eign alliances  and  the  wars  connected  with  them,  and 
simply  trust  God.  He,  and  he  only,  was  the  nation's 
hope. 

At  first  this  may  seem  like  an  indorsement  of  radi- 
cal pacifism.  And  it  is  true  that  the  prophets  gen- 
erally looked  forward  to  a  universal  reign  of  peace. 
One  of  the  sublimest  passages  in  all  Scripture  is 
Isa.  2.  2-4,  where  the  prophet  looks  forward  to  a 
time  when  all  disputes  between  nations  shall  be 
settled  by  arbitration,  and  men  "shall  beat  their 
swords  into  plowshares,  and  their  spears  into  prun- 
ing-hooks,"   and  "nation   shall  not  lift  up   sword 

95 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  war  any 
more."  But  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  infer  from  this 
that  the  prophets  condemned  war  under  all  circum- 
stances. They  were  by  no  means  doctrinaires.  They 
did  not  argue  that  the  use  of  force  is  wrong  in  prin- 
ciple, and  that,  therefore,  all  war  is  evil.  As  sensi- 
ble men  they  knew  that  force  in  their  own  day  was 
necessary  if  order  was  to  be  maintained  in  a  city, 
and  necessary  also  if  order  was  to  be  maintained  in 
the  world.  What  led  them  to  condemn  the  resort 
to  arms  on  the  part  of  their  own  government  was 
the  actual  conditions  of  the  time.  Under  existing 
circumstances  such  a  policy,  they  were  persuaded, 
was  unjustified  and  would  prove  disastrous  to  the 
state.  Under  other  conditions  they  might  have 
defended  it  as  a  national  duty.  The  author  of 
Daniel,  for  instance,  manifestly  justified  and  encour- 
aged the  Maccabean  revolt,  and  Isaiah  spoke  of 
Assyria  as  the  rod  of  Jehovah's  anger  and  the 
staff  of  his  indignation  (lo.  5).  Jehovah  used  the 
Assyrian  armies  to  punish  wicked  nations,  and  what 
he  did  in  that  day  he  may  very  well,  in  harmony 
with  prophetic  teaching,  do  to-day.  He  may  use 
the  armed  forces  of  America  in  a  mighty  crusade 
against  militaristic  despotism.  But  this  in  the 
prophetic  thought  was  all  subordinate  to  the  convic- 
tion that  the  time  would  come  when  war  would  be 
no  more.     The  doctrine  that  war  is  a  ''biological 

96 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  NATION 

necessity"  and  that  it  will  never  cease  is  one  that 
would  have  aroused  the  indignation  of  the  prophets 
to  the  utmost  limit. 

True  function  of  the  nation. — War,  according  to 
the  prophets,  is  at  the  best  a  necessity  of  these  evil 
times  and  is  destined  to  disappear.  The  true  func- 
tion of  the  nation  lies  elsewhere  and,  in  the  light  of 
prophetic  teaching,  may  be  regarded  as  twofold : 
First,  in  so  far  as  the  nation  is  politically  organized, 
it  is  its  primary  duty  to  promote  justice  and  the 
spirit  of  humanity  among  those  under  its  authority 
A  government  that  permits  injustice  and  cruelty — 
to  say  nothing  about  encouraging  and  being  itself 
guilty  of  them — is  by  that  very  fact  condemned.  It 
matters  not  how  innocently  or  naturally  the  evils 
may  have  grown  up,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  state  to 
protect  the  weak  against  them.  The  government  is 
not  simply  a  referee,  whose  function  it  is  to  see  to 
it  that  the  rules  of  the  game  are  observed  by  rich 
and  poor  alike  regardless  of  the  outcome  of  the 
struggle:  it  is  the  duty  of  the  government  to  alter 
the  rules,  to  equalize  the  conditions  of  the  struggle, 
and  to  promote  the  spirit  of  cooperation.  Failure  to 
do  this  means  inevitably  the  growth  of  injustice  and 
inhumanity  and  the  defeat  of  the  very  purpose  of 
government.  Yet  such  has  often  been  the  case  in 
human  history,  and  such  was  the  state  of  affairs 
in  Israel  in  the  eighth  century  b.   c.     Only  there 

97 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

many  of  the  judges  and  officials  were  in  league 
with  the  strong  and  even  violated  the  traditional 
rules  in  their  interest.  The  result  was  that  the 
seeds  of  discord  and  unrest  were  sown,  and  the 
very  foundations  of  the  state  undermined.  This 
the  prophets  clearly  saw.  To  them  the  whole 
policy  of  the  state  was  suicidal.  "Do  horses," 
asks  Amos,  "run  up  the  steep  cliff?  Do  men  plow 
the  sea  with  oxen?  That  ye  have  turned  justice 
into  gall,  and  the  fruit  of  righteousness  into  worm- 
wood" (6.  12).  To  him  and  the  other  prophets  a 
government  founded  on  might  without  regard  to 
right  was  the  height  of  folly.  It  ran  counter  to 
nature  itself.  Justice  and  humanity  they  viewed 
as  the  very  atmosphere  of  every  sound  state.  With- 
out them  a  state  would  certainly  be  asphyxiated. 

But  no  nation  lives  unto  itself.  It  is  part  of  a 
larger  whole  and  toward  this  larger  whole  it  may 
take  one  of  two  attitudes :  It  may  seek  to  exploit  it, 
use  it  for  its  own  selfish  purposes,  or  unselfishly  to 
serve  it.  The  latter  is  the  prophetic  idea  and  consti- 
tutes the  nation's  second  function.  It  is  expressed 
in  an  especially  striking  way  in  Deutero-Isaiah. 
Here  we  have  the  noble  conception  of  the  Suffering 
Servant  (42.  1-4;  49.  1-6;  50.  4-9;  52.  13  to  53.  12). 
The  servant  is  Israel,  and  Israel  is  represented  as 
giving  its  life  in  vicarious  and  redemptive  sacrifice 
for  the  world.    Such  a  conception  of  the  function  of 

98 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  NATION 

the  nation  is  hardly  one  that  commends  itself  to  the 
natural  heart  of  man.  The  worldly-wise  are  still 
disposed  to  scorn  it.  But  it  is  one  that  is  appealing 
more  and  more  to  the  forward-looking  people  of  the 
world.  On  this  point  the  ancient  Hebrew  prophets 
are  still  ahead  of  us. 

In  this  idea  that  the  nation  should  be  a  servant 
of  other  peoples  it  is  implied  that  humanity  as  a^ 
whole  is  a  greater  good  than  any  single  nation. 
No  nation  is  an  end  in  itself.  This  truth  the 
prophets  clearly  realized  so  far  as  political  Israel 
was  concerned.  The  nation  in  that  sense  they  sub- 
ordinated to  their  religion.  And  the  result  was  that 
Israel  is  the  only  nation  whose  religion  survived  its 
own  political  downfall.  In  the  case  of  every  other 
people  the  religion  fell  with  the  nation.  And  this 
would  certainly  have  occurred  in  Israel  if  it  had 
not  been  for  the  fact  that  the  prophets  had  already 
detached  their  religion  from  the  state  and  stamped  it 
as  the  greater  good.  But  while  the  prophets  thus 
subordinated  the  nation  as  a  political  organization  j 
to  the  greater  and  universal  good  represented  by 
their  religion  they  did  not  wholly  succeed  in  doing 
so  with  the  nation  in  the  racial  sense.  At  times  they  \ 
approached  it.  Israel  was  to  be  a  servant  nation,  J 
a  light  to  the  Gentiles.  But  the  idea  of  the  inde- 
pendent and  ultimate  worth  of  the  Israelitic  nation 
as  such  they  did  not  transcend.     To  the  end  they 

99 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

remained  Jews,  and  this  national  limitation  they 
transmitted  to  the  later  religious  leaders  of  their 
race.  Even  to-day  it  is  the  national  bond  that  keeps 
Judaism  alive  as  a  distinct  religion.  Some  unifying 
bond  every  religion  must  have,  but  a  national  bond 
manifestly  unfits  a  religion  to  be  universal.  So 
Christianity  finds  its  bond  of  union  in  a  Person. 
When  Jesus  came  the  national  limitations  of  the 
prophetic  teaching  were  laid  aside,  and  instead  of 
the  nation  a  divine  Person  was  made  the  bond  of 
religious  union.  What  nationality  is  to  Judaism, 
that  is  Christ  to  Christianity. 

Topics  and  Questions  for  Discussion 

How  do  Chapters  VI  to  X  of  this  book  differ  in 
their  method  and  general  character  from  Chapters 
ItoV? 

Point  out  in  detail  how  prophecy  throughout  its 
entire  history  was  actuated  by  national  considera- 
tions. 

In  what  respect  did  the  nationalism  of  the 
prophets  differ  from  that  of  the  mere  patriot? 

Why  did  the  prophets  look  upon  the  permanent 
existence  of  the  Hebrew  nation  as  essential  to  the 
perpetuity  of  the  true  religion? 

What  distinction  did  the  writing  prophets  make 
between  real  and  ideal  Israel? 

100 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  NATION 

What  was  the  difference  between  the  preHterary 
and  the  hterary  prophets  in  their  conception  of 
"real"  Israel? 

Instead  of  the  "fall"  of  man  what  did  the 
prophets  teach?  (See  Jer.  2.  2-8;  Hos.  9.  10;  Isa. 
I.  26;  Amos  5.  25). 

How  did  the  contrast  between  the  real  and  the 
ideal  made  by  the  postexilic  prophets  differ  from 
that  made  by  the  preexilic  prophets  ? 

The  attitude  taken  by  the  preliterary  and  the  lit- 
erary prophets  toward  the  use  of  "force"  as  a 
means  of  realizing  the  ideal. 

Why  did  not  the  prophets  regard  moral  suasion  or 
preaching  as  sufficient  to  bring  in  the  new  era? 

How,  according  to  the  prophets,  would  the  ideal 
kingdom  eventually  be  established  in  the  world  ? 

The  bearing  of  such  passages  as  Isa.  2.  2-4;  10.  5 ; 
and  31.  3  on  the  prophetic  attitude  toward  the  neces- 
sity and  permissibility  of  war. 

What  did  the  prophets  regard  as  the  primary  duty 
of  the  state? 

What  important  bearing  does  Isa.  42.  1-4;  49.  1-6; 
50-  4-9;  52-  13  to  53.  12  have  upon  the  question 
of  a  nation's  duty  to  the  world  ? 

What  enabled  Israel's  religion  to  survive  the  politi- 
cal downfall  of  the  nation?  (See  the  author's 
The  Beacon  Lights  of  Prophecy,  page  204.) 

Why  did  not  the  prophetic  religion  as  represented 

Id 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

by  Judaism  become  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  term 
a  universal  religion  ? 

Bibliography 

The  Hebrezv  Prophet,  by  L.  W.  Batten  (pages 
161-270). 

National  Ideals  in  the  Old  Testament,  by  H.  J. 
Cadbury  (pages  1-23,  61-73,  119-36,  184-205). 

The  Religious  Teaching  of  the  Old  Testament, 
by  A.  C.  Knudson  (pages  316-31). 


102 


CHAPTER     VII 

PROPHECY    AND    MORALITY 

In  even  the  most  primitive  religions  there  is  an 
ethical  element.  Magic  is  selfish :  it  says,  *'My  will 
be  done" ;  but  religion  in  its  essential  nature  is  unsel- 
fish: it  says,  "Thy  will  be  done."  The  religiously 
minded  person  submits  himself  to  a  power  higher 
than  himself — a  power  that  represents  a  greater 
good  than  any  individual  interest  of  his  own.  He 
also  regards  himself  as  part  of  a  larger  social  group, 
to  whose  laws  he  attributes  an  authority  superior  to 
any  private  wish.  This  is  true  of  the  religiously 
minded  generally;  and  wherever  we  have  such  a 
submission  of  the  selfish  will  to  a  higher  social  and 
divine  will  we  have  the  ethical  spirit.  But  it  is  easy 
for  the  religious  attitude  of  submission  to  lose  its 
ethical  character.  It  may  become  purely  formal. 
This  is  often  the  case.  A  person  goes  through  the 
outward  acts  of  devotion,  but  he  puts  no  heart  into 
them.  They  are  simply  a  series  of  external  rites  and 
practices  that  have  been  taught  him,  or  which  fre- 
quent repetition  has  deprived  of  their  original  mean- 
ing. Or  it  may  be  that  the  outward  rites  are  per- 
formed for  selfish  purposes.    They  are  not  genuine 

103 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

expressions  of  submission  to  the  divine  will  but, 
rather,  attempts  to  bribe  the  Deity,  to  win  his  favor 
by  gifts  and  an  external  appearance  of  devotion. 
Yet  again,  these  rites  may  be  positively  immoral 
Acts  may  come  to  be  performed  in  the  name  of  reli- 
gion which  would  be  condemned  in  the  normal  rela- 
tions of  life.  Prostitution,  for  instance,  often  has 
been  practiced  in  connection  with  religious  sanctua- 
ries, and  human  sacrifice  has  not  been  uncommon. 
The  popular  religion  in  early  Israel. ^ — Such  devel- 
opments as  these,  it  is  evident,  tend  to  destroy  the 
ethical  element  in  religion;  and  they  have  appeared 
to  some  extent  in  virtually  every  religion.  We  find 
them  among  the  early  Israelites.  One  need  only 
read  the  preexilic  prophets  to  see  how  common  they 
were  at  that  time,  and  in  the  ''preprophetic"  period 
they  were  no  doubt  equally  prevalent.  The  popular 
religion  in  Israel  was  half  heathen  until  almost  the 
time  of  the  Exile.  It  was  to  a  large  extent  external 
and  formal  in  character.  "This  people,"  said  Jeho- 
vah, ''draw  nigh  .  .  .  ,  with  their  mouth  and  with 
their  lips  do  honor  me,  but  have  removed  their  heart 
far  from  me,  and  their  fear  of  me  is  a  command- 
ment of  men  which  hath  been  taught  them''  (Isa. 
29.  13).  They  would  attend  to  the  external  acts  of 
worship,  but  would  disobey  the  divine  law  so  far  as 
it  conflicted  with  their  selfish  wills.  The  popular 
Israelitic  faith  was  also  for  the  most  part  a  *'nat- 

104 


PROPHECY  AND  MORALITY 

ural"  religion — that  is,  a  religion  that  had  for  its 
aim  the  securing  of  the  natural  goods  of  life.  It 
was  ''for  grain  and  new  wine"  that  they  went  to  the 
sanctuaries.  ''I  will  go  after  my  lovers,"  said 
Israel,  ''that  give  me  my  bread  and  my  water,  my 
wool  and  my  flax,  mine  oil  and  my  drink"  (Hos. 
2.  5).  So  long  as  their  physical  needs  were  met,  they 
thought  they  were  enjoying  the  divine  favor,  and 
their  main  purpose  in  seeking  the  divine  favor  was 
to  assure  for  themselves  material  prosperity.  Then, 
too,  there  were  in  the  popular  Hebrew  religion  such 
gross  evils  as  prostitution  and  human  sacrifice.  The 
latter  cannot  have  been  common,  but  it  is  not  infre- 
quently referred  to  (Jer.  7.  31).  Jephthah's  daugh- 
ter was  evidently  sacrificed  (Judg.  11.  31,  39),  and 
we  read  of  Ahaz  the  king  that  he  "made  his  son  to 
pass  through  the  fire"  (2  Kings  16.  3).  Prostitu- 
tion in  connection  with  the  sanctuaries,  however^ 
seems  to  have  been  widely  prevalent.  Amos  refers 
to  it  (2.  7),  and  Hosea  manifestly  regarded  it  as  a 
crying  evil  (4.  13,  14). 

But  not  only  were  the  religious  practices  of  the 
early  Hebrews  to  a  considerable  extent  nonmoral 
and  even  immoral :  their  view  of  God  was  alsa 
ethically  imperfect.  They  thought  of  him  as  at 
times  punishing  people  without  an  adequate  motive 
(i  Sam.  6.  19;  2  Sam.  6.  6  f.),  as  at  other  times 
inciting  to  evil  action  (2  Sam.  24.  i ;  i  Kings  12.  15; 

105 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

I  Sam.  24.  19),  and  yet  again  as  moved  by  such 
material  gifts  as  the  smell  of  the  sweet  fragrance  of 
a  sacrifice  (Gen.  8.  21).  They  also  thought  of  him 
as  standing  in  such  a  relation  to  the  Hebrew  nation 
that  he  could  hardly  avoid  treating  them  as  favor- 
ites. He  defended  them  against  their  enemies  and 
protected  them  even  when  they  were  in  the  wrong 
(compare  Gen.  12.  10-20;  20.  1-18).  In  a  word, 
they  regarded  themselves  as  having  virtually  a 
monopoly  of  the  divine  favor. 

Rites  and  ceremonies. — It  was  against  such  a 
background  as  that  described  in  the  two  preceding 
paragraphs  that  the  prophets  did  their  work.  And  it 
w^as  their  supreme  achievement,  the  convincing  evi- 
dence of  their  inspiration,  that  they  completely 
moralized  the  popular  religion.  This  they  did  in 
three  different  ways :  first,  by  their  denial  of  any 
intrinsic  worth  to  rites  and  ceremonies;  secondly, 
by  their  insistence  on  the  idea  that  goodness  is  the 
essence  of  religion ;  and,  thirdly,  by  their  proclama- 
tion of  the  absolute  righteousness  of  Jehovah  and 
the  certainty  that  he  would  soon  appear  in  the  world 
as  its  moral  Judge.  Each  of  these  points  is  im- 
portant and  calls  for  elaboration. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  the 
literary  prophets  before  the  Exile  that  they  never 
wxaried  of  denouncing  the  popular  trust  in  rites  and 
ceremonies.     Some  of  their  most  memorable  utter- 

106 


PROPHECY  AND  MORALITY 

ances  deal  with  the  subject.  In  Amos  5.  21-24  we 
have  a  famous  passage  beginning  with  the  words : 
*'I  hate,  I  despise  your  feasts,  and  I  will  take  no 
delight  in  your  solemn  assemblies.'*  In  Hosea  6.  6 
is  found  the  familiar  saying,  "I  desire  goodness, 
and  not  sacrifice;  and  the  knowledge  of  God  more 
than  burnt-offerings."  In  Isa.  i.  11-17  the  subject 
receives  its  fullest  and  perhaps  most  striking  exposi- 
tion. **What  unto  me  is  the  multitude  of  your  sacri- 
fices? saith  Jehovah:  I  have  had  enough  of  the 
burnt-offerings  of  rams,  and  the  fat  of  fed  beasts." 
Thus  this  notable  utterance  begins ;  and  it  ends  with 
the  oft-quoted  words  *'Cease  to  do  evil;  learn  to  do 
well;  seek  justice,  relieve  the  oppressed,  judge  the 
fatherless,  plead  for  the  widow."  In  Jer.  6.  20  we 
read :  "To  what  purpose  cometh  there  to  me  frankin- 
cense from  Sheba,  and  the  sweet  cane  from  a  far 
country  ?  your  burnt-offerings  are  not  acceptable,  nor 
your  sacrifices  pleasing  unto  me."  But  the  greatest 
of  all  these  passages  is  the  one  found  in  Mic.  6.  6-8, 
which,  after  indicating  the  worthlessness  of  all  exter- 
nal sacrifices,  even  the  sacrifice  of  one's  own  child, 
closes  with  the  never-to-be-forgotten  words  "What 
doth  Jehovah  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  to 
love  kindness,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God?" 
It  would,  however,  be  a  mistake  to  conclude  from 
such  utterances  as  these  that  the  prophets  rejected 
altogether  the  use  of  rites  and  ceremonies  in  wor- 

107 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

ship.  That  they  did  not  do  so  is  evident  from  the 
fact  that  Isaiah  classes  prayer  along  with  the  other 
religious  rites  condemned.  Prayer  as  such  he,  of 
course,  could  not  have  rejected;  for  prayer  is  the 
very  heart  of  religion.  What  he  meant  to  condemn 
was  a  merely  formal  or  selfish  prayer.  So,  likewise, 
it  was  not  sacrifices  as  such  that  the  prophets  rejected 
but  the  unspiritual  performance  of  them.  Outward 
forms  have  their  place  in  religion.  Without  them 
organized  and  ef^cient  religion  would  vanish.  In 
the  abstract  it  is  no  doubt  true  that  no  particular 
rites  or  ceremonies  are  essential  to  true  religion; 
that  the  only  essential  thing  is  the  right  inner  spirit. 
Concrete  experience,  however,  teaches  us  that  there 
are  many  nonessential  things  in  religion  which  are 
essential  in  order  to  make  religion  effective  in  the 
world.  If  we  were  to  give  up  our  churches,  our 
established  ministry,  and  the  outward  forms  of  wor- 
ship, it  is  certain  that  the  inner  spirit  of  piety  would 
itself  rapidly  vanish.  The  inner  spirit  cannot  live 
without  its  proper  outward  expression.  It  is  true, 
no  doubt,  that  in  the  ideal  we  ought  to  make  our 
whole  life  an  expression  of  the  spirit  of  worship, 
ought  to  turn  every  day  into  a  holy  day.  And  it 
w^ould  be  nice,  as  a  distinguished  man  once  said,  to 
wear  our  Sunday  clothes  every  day;  but  if  we  did  so, 
he  added,  we  should  soon  be  found  wearing  our 
everyday  clothes  Sunday.    Life  would  lose  its  dis- 

io8 


PROPHECY  AND  MORALITY 

tinctly  religious   character  if   all  special   religious 
services  and  forms  were  given  up. 

This  the  great  prophets  of  course  realized.  So 
v^hat  they  condemned  was  not  ceremonial  worship 
itself  but  such  worship  when  offered  as  a  substitute 
for  righteousness.  Conditions  might  arise  when  it 
would  be  a  matter  of  vital  importance  that  the  Tem- 
ple and  Temple  service  should  be  emphasized.  This, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  was  the  case  after  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem;  and,  hence,  the  exilic  and  post- 
exilic  prophets — especially  Ezekiel,  Haggai,  Zechari- 
ah,  and  Malachi — devoted  no  little  attention,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  to  the  externals  of  religion.  They 
saw  clearly  that  the  priestly  as  well  as  the  prophetic 
function  was  necessary  in  religion.  Not  only  were 
forms  and  rites  necessary  as  an  expression  of  the 
religious  spirit;  they  were  also  necessary  because 
they  were  better  understood  by  the  average  man 
than  the  general  spiritual  truths  taught  by  the 
prophets  by  word  of  mouth.  If  the  prophetic  teach- 
ing at  that  early  date  was  to  be  brought  within 
reach  of  the  people  as  a  whole,  it  was  necessary  that 
it  should  be  expressed  not  only  in  words  but  in  rite 
and  institution  and  ceremony.  To  do  this  was  the 
work  mainly  of  the  priests ;  and  the  priestly  law  of 
the  Old  Testament  is  to  be  understood  as  in  its  essen- 
tial nature  an  attempt  to  make  the  great  ideas  of  the 
prophets  intelligible  to  the  rank  and  file  of  the  people 

109 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

by  connecting  them  with  the  sacrifices  and  other 
rites  with  which  all  were  familiar.  As  the  prophets 
moralized  the  popular  religion,  so  the  priests  popu- 
larized the  prophetic  religion.  They  made  the  feasts, 
the  Sabbath,  the  rite  of  circumcision,  and  the  other 
externals  of  religion  symbolical  expressions  of  the 
higher  faith  inculcated  by  the  prophets. 

But  while  the  aim  of  the  priests  was  thus  a  high 
and  noble  one,  and  while  they  were  seconded  in  their 
work  by  some  of  the  later  prophets,  it  is  still  true 
that  there  is  serious  danger  in  unduly  emphasizing 
the  ceremonial  element  in  religion.  Time  and  again 
ecclesiastical  institutions  have  fallen  into  formalism 
and  lost  their  vital  power  because  of  this  mistaken 
emphasis.  Indeed,  this  false  emphasis  may  be  said 
to  represent  the  natural,  uncorrected  tendency  of  the 
religious  life  of  man.  Ceremonialism  is  the  great 
outstanding  characteristic  of  the  heathen  religions 
as  a  whole  and  the  chief  source  of  their  weakness. 
To  point  out,  therefore,  and  to  insist  upon  the  worth- 
lessness  of  religious  rites  in  and  of  themselves,  as 
did  the  preexilic  prophets,  was  a  service  of  perma- 
nent value  to  true  religion. 

Goodness  the  essence  of  true  religion. — More  im- 
portant, however,  was  the  positive  side  of  the  pro- 
phetic teaching.  And  here  we  are  first  con- 
cerned with  the  principle  that  goodness  is  the 
essence  of  religion.     This  principle  stood  in  direct 

no 


PROPHECY  AND  MORALITY 

antithesis  to  the  popular  ceremoniaHsm,  and  the 
prophetic  condemnation  of  the  latter  was  usually  fol- 
lowed by  an  emphatic  assertion  of  the  former. 
Amos  ends  his  famous  denunciation  of  feasts  and 
sacrifices  with  the  words,  *'Let  justice  roll  down  as 
the  waters,  and  righteousness  as  a  mighty  stream" 
(5.  24).  And  the  corresponding  passages  in  Isaiah 
(i.  11-17)  and  Micah  (6.  6-8)  conclude,  as  we 
have  seen,  in  a  similar  way.  The  idea  that  right- 
eousness is  an  essential  element  in  religion  goes  back 
to  the  time  of  Moses  and  was  dramatically  reaf- 
firmed by  the  prophets  Nathan  and  Elijah  as  against 
David  in  the  one  case  and  Ahab  in  the  other.  But 
it  was  the  eighth-century  prophets  who  first  ele- 
vated the  idea  into  a  position  of  exclusive  signifi- 
cance. With  them  nothing  mattered  in  the  relation 
of  Israel  to  Jehovah  except  righteousness;  and  by 
righteousness  they  meant  all  that  is  involved  in  the 
idea  of  moral  goodness.  They  meant  social  justice, 
the  fair  and  humane  treatment  of  the  poor  by  the 
rich,  and,  of  course,  the  reverse  of  this  also  (Amos 
2.  6-8;  5.  II,  12;  Mic.  2.  I  f.;  3.  1-3).  But  they 
also  meant  something  more:  they  meant  absolute 
loyalty  to  Jehovah  and  complete  submission  to  his 
will.  They  meant  personal  purity,  freedom  from 
idolatry,  truthfulness,  and  everything  that  went  to 
make  up  the  moral  ideal  (Hos.  4.  i,  2;  8.  4-6;  Isa. 
5.  8-23;  Jer.  9.  1-9).     Sometimes  religious  people 

III 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

:speak  disparagingly  of  "mere  morality,"  but  this  is 
an  unfortunate  use  of  the  word  "morality."  The 
fact  is  that  morality  or  goodness,  as  understood  by 
the  prophets,  is  the  most  important  thing  in  the 
world  and  is  coextensive  with  religion.  For  Amos 
to  "seek  good  and  not  evil"  was  equivalent  to  seek- 
ing Jehovah,  and  to  seek  Jehovah  was  to  seek  the 
good  (5.  6,  14). 

It  is  at  this  point  that  one  is  justified  in  speaking 
of  the  "radicalism"  of  the  prophets.  They  were 
radical  in  the  sense  that  they  tested  everything  by 
the  plummet  line  of  righteousness.  From  the  moral 
point  of  view  they  went  to  the  root  of  things.  That 
is  what  the  word  "radical"  means.  But  their  rad- 
icalism, it  should  be  noted,  was  ethical,  not  economic. 
This  distinction  is  an  important  one.  There  are 
to-day  many  economic  radicals,  and  it  may  be  that 
their  radicalism  is  in  some  cases  at  least  justified; 
but  between  their  radicalism  and  that  of  the  prophets 
there  is  no  necessary  connection.  Indeed,  many  of 
the  great  leaders  in  modern  radicalism  have  been 
diametrically  opposed  to  prophetic  radicalism.  They 
have  made  morality  a  subordinate  thing  in  human 
life  and  have  taken  an  attitude  of  comparative  indif- 
ference toward  it.  In  this  realm  they  have  been 
radical  only  in  the  sense  that  they  have  sought  to 
overthrow  the  moral  standards  of  the  past  and  to 
create  a  "new  morality"  subservient  to  their  own 

112 


PROPHECY  AND  MORALITY 

economic  program.  And  in  this  regard  they  have 
parted  company  completely  with  the  Hebrew 
prophets.  The  latter  reaffirmed  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  traditional  morality;  and  their 
influence  was  largely  due  to  their  power  of  appeal 
to  the  conscience  of  men.  "Stand  ye  in  the  ways,'* 
said  Jeremiah,  "and  see,  and  ask  for  the  old  paths, 
where  is  the  good  way;  and  walk  therein,  and  ye 
shall  find  rest  for  your  souls"  (6.  i6). 

Prophetism  and  socialism. — So  prominent  is  the 
social  problem  at  present  that  it  may  be  well  in 
this  connection  to  consider  a  little  more  fully  the 
relation  of  ancient  prophetism  to  the  modern 
social  movement.  In  spite  of  what  has  just  been 
said  it  is  not  uncommon  to  hear  the  Hebrew 
prophets  spoken  of  as  the  "soap-box  orators"  of 
antiquity.  Their  true  successors,  we  are  told,  are 
to  be  found  among  the  socialistic  agitators  of  to-day. 
And  that  there  are  important  points  of  contact 
between  the  ancient  prophetic  and  the  modern  social- 
istic movement  is  not  to  be  denied.  For  one  thing, 
we  find  in  both  the  same  sympathy  with  the 
oppressed  classes  of  society,  the  same  burning  indig- 
nation against  social  wrongs.  "What  mean  ye," 
cried  Isaiah,  "that  ye  crush  my  people,  and  grind 
the  face  of  the  poor?"  (Isa.  3.  15).  The  ruling 
classes,  said  Micah  in  bitterness,  "eat  the  flesh  of  my 
people,  and  flay  their  skin  from  off  them,  and  break 

113 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

their  bones,  and  chop  them  in  pieces,  as  for  the 
pot,  and  as  flesh  within  the  caldron"  (3.  3).  And  to 
Amos  the  maladministration  of  the  day  was  so  glar- 
ing as  to  seem  utterly  absurd — as  absurd  as  it 
would  be  for  horses  to  run  up  a  steep  cliff  or  for 
one  to  attempt  to  plow  the  sea  with  oxen  (6.  12). 
No  government,  he  held,  could  possibly  be  stable 
which  was  not  based  on  justice  and  respect  for  the 
individual  man  as  man.  Now,  no  doubt  the  social 
evils  due  to  tyranny  and  oppression  were  far  greater 
in  ancient  Israel  than  with  us;  but  that  there  are 
sore  spots  in  our  body  politic  no  one  would  deny.  In 
the  mad  rush  for  wealth  human  values  are  often 
overlooked,  and  men  are  treated  simply  as  tools,  as 
means  to  an  end.  And  in  principle  this  is  essen- 
tially the  same  evil  as  that  which  confronted  the 
prophets  of  old.  When  Amos  denounced  the  rulers 
of  his  day  for  selling  the  righteous  for  silver  and 
the  needy  for  a  pair  of  shoes  (2.  6),  what  he  had 
chiefly  in  mind  was  not  the  smallness  of  the  price 
paid;  to  him  it  was  an  outrage  that  a  human  being 
should  be  sold  for  any  price  whatsoever.  Person- 
ality he  looked  upon  as  sacred.  It  is  this  principle 
also  that  lies  at  the  basis  of  such  moral  passion  as  is 
to  be  found  in  the  socialistic  movement. 

Again,  we  find  both  in  prophetism  and  socialism 
the  vivid  hope  of  a  better  social  order.  The  existing 
order  is  not  permanent.    It  will  be  overthrown ;  and 

114 


PROPHECY  AND  MORALITY 

on  its  ruins  will  arise  a  new  social  state,  in  which 
the  inequalities,  injustices,  want,  and  wretchedness 
of  the  present  will  have  no  place.  This  hope  was 
the  polar  star  of  prophetic  thought  and  it  is  also 
the  inspiration  of  the  present  widespread  social 
agitation. 

But  while  there  are  these  two  important  points  of 
contact  between  the  ancient  prophets  and  the  mod- 
ern social  radicals,  there  are  two  even  more  signifi- 
cant points  of  difference :  one  of  these  has  to  do  with 
the  method  by  which  the  new  order  is  to  be  estab- 
lished. The  present-day  radical  preaches  class  war. 
The  proletariat  is  to  be  organized  and  then  by 
force,  if  necessary,  seize  the  reins  of  government. 
The  movement  is  thus  thoroughly  political  and 
worldly.  In  the  canonical  prophets,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  find  a  very  different  spirit.  We  find  there, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  no  resort  to  intrigue  or 
force  and  no  appeal  to  class  hatred.  The  whole 
problem  is  lifted  to  a  higher  plane,  and  the  solution 
is  found  purely  and  simply  in  the  weapons  of  the 
Spirit,  in  the  intervention  of  the  God  of  righteous- 
ness. 

The  second  point  of  difference  has  already  been 
alluded  to.  It  relates  to  the  nature  of  the  goal  aimed 
at.  What  the  modern  radical  stresses  is  the  mate- 
rial, the  economic.  It  is  the  outward  comforts  of 
life  about  which  he  is  most  concerned.     In  ethics 

"5 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

he  is  what  is  called  a  hedonist — one  who  puts  pleas- 
ure above  moral  character.  Indeed,  the  latter  he 
regards  as  almost  wholly  dependent  on  external  con- 
ditions. This  is  clearly  expressed  in  the  following 
crude  lines  found  in  an  American  Revolutionary 
pamphlet : 

"I  reckon  that  when  the  wardrobe  is  full, 
And  grub  adorns  the  shelves, 
That  salvation  will  be  plenty, 
And  souls  will  save  themselves." 

As  opposed  to  this  doctrine  the  prophets  put  the 
ethical  first,  and  not  second.  The  material  goods 
of  life  they  by  no  means  despised.  They  valued 
them  highly  and  even  attributed  to  them  a  sacra- 
mental quality.  They  saw  in  them  symbols  of  the 
divine  favor,  but  they  always  made  them  secondary. 
The  ethical  with  them  was  basic  and  primary.  They 
believed  that  ''the  soul  of  improvement  is  the  im- 
provement of  the  soul."  What  they  consequently 
chiefly  stressed  was  not  so  much  the  need  of  a  change 
in  external  conditions  as  the  need  of  a  change  in 
the  hearts  of  men. 

The  absolute  righteousness  of  Jehovah.— The 
radicalism  of  the  prophets  was  thus  a  matter  of  the 
spirit,  of  loyal  devotion  to  the  moral  ideals  of  life. 
But  it  did  not  confine  itself  to  their  conception  of 

ii6 


PROPHECY  AND  MORALITY 

human  duty;  it  extended  also  to  their  conception  of 
Jehovah  and  his  rule  of  the  world.  In  the  early 
popular  religion  of  the  Hebrews  and  also  among 
heathen  peoples  there  was  a  moral  element  in  the 
views  held  of  the  Deity.  But  the  Deity  was  not 
regarded  as  ''ethical  to  the  very  core."  This  was 
an  idea  that  first  appeared  with  the  literary  prophets. 
It  is  to  them  that  we  owe  the  complete  moralization 
of  the  idea  of  God.  Amos,  it  will  be  remembered, 
virtually  identified  goodness  with  Jehovah.  To  him 
the  two  terms  were  synonymous.  And  Isaiah,  in 
the  famous  trisagion  (6.  3),  makes  holiness  the  very 
essence  of  Jehovah's  being  and  sets  his  glory  above 
the  whole  earth.  Morality  for  the  prophets  was  thus 
imbedded  in  the  very  heart  of  the  universe. 

But  this  at  present  was  hidden  from  the  common 
eye.  Jehovah  had  not  yet  fully  revealed  his  right- 
eous rule.  Soon,  however,  he  would  do  so.  This 
was  the  conviction  of  all  the  prophets.  The  day  of 
Jehovah  was  at  hand.  Before  long  the  eternal  moral 
ideal  would  emerge  in  the  visible  and  temporal  order, 
all  injustice  and  evil  would  be  destroyed,  and  the 
kingdom  of  God  would  be  established  forever. 
Righteousness  for  the  prophets  was  thus  the  certain 
goal  of  human  history  and,  hence,  would  ultimately 
manifest  itself  to  sight  as  well  as  faith  as  the  one 
abiding  good  of  life. 

The  importance  of  the  moralization  of  religion. — 

117 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

The  importance  of  this  aspect  of  the  prophetic  teach- 
ing can  hardly  be  exaggerated.  By  thoroughly  and 
radically  moralizing  religion  the  prophets  rendered 
a  service  of  incalculable  value  alike  to  religion  and 
to  humanity.  First,  they  transformed  religion  into 
the  mightiest  agency  for  social  progress  ever  intro- 
duced into  the  world.  In  its  traditional  forms  reli- 
gion has  always  sanctified  worthless  rites  and  harm- 
ful usages.  In  India,  for  instance,  it  led  people  to 
believe  that  poisonous  serpents  were  sacred  and 
might  not  be  destroyed.  The  result  was  that  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  lives  were  needlessly  sacrificed. 
It  also  placed  its  sanction  upon  the  caste  system,  with 
all  its  abominations.  In  such  ways  as  these  reli- 
gion has  often  been  socially  injurious;  and  still  more 
frequently  has  it  been  socially  useless.  It  has  busied 
itself  with  rites  and  ceremonies  that  have  stood  in 
no  relation  to  the  real  work  of  the  world.  But  all 
this  was  changed  by  the  prophets.  They  denied  to 
mere  rites  and  customs  any  religious  sanction.  True 
religion,  they  held,  was  purely  ethical  and  had  to  do 
only  with  those  fundamental  virtues  that  lie  at  the 
basis  of  every  healthy  social  organism.  It  is  justice 
and  kindness  and  faithfulness  and  honesty  and  pur- 
ity that  alone  are  sacred.  And  if  so,  it  is  evident  that 
religion  is  the  most  powerful  and  beneficent  social 
force  in  the  world.  For  it  is  these  basic  social  virtues 
that  alone  make  true  progress  possible.  Only  as  there 

ii8 


PROPHECY  AND  MORALITY 

is  a  sincere  and  earnest  devotion  to  the  common 
good,  can  a  better  social  order  be  introduced.  And 
this  devotion  is  a  state  of  mind  which  only  religion 
can  permanently  produce.  It  is  moralized  religion, 
and  it  only,  which  puts  upon  the  basic  social  vir- 
tues the  stamp  of  sanctity  and  so  imparts  to  them  a 
conquering  power.  The  social  hope  of  the  world 
lies  therefore  in  such  a  moral  interpretation  of  reli- 
gion and  such  a  religious  interpretation  of  morality 
as  the  prophets  have  given  us. 

In  the  second  place,  the  prophets  by  moralizing 
religion  and  making  it  a  socially  useful  institution 
established  its  essential  rationality.  Percival  Lowell 
once  remarked  that  "sense  is  not  essential  to  religion, 
but  incense  is."  To  this  the  distinguished  mission- 
ary, Dr.  Gulick,  replied  that  such  a  statement  is  "the 
essence  of  nonsense  and  is  calculated  to  incense  a 
man  of  sense."  Religion,  as  we  have  learned  it  from 
the  prophets,  has  no  necessary  connection  with 
incense  but  it  does  appeal  to  sense,  to  reason;  and 
it  does  so  primarily  because  of  its  utility.  Gibbon, 
the  historian,  used  to  say  that  all  religions  are 
"equally  useful  and  equally  false."  But  this  posi- 
tion is  one  which  present-day  thought  would  hardly 
regard  as  self-consistent.  Utility  in  the  deepest 
sense  of  the  term  is  a  very  important  test  of  truth. 
If  a  religion  is  really  useful,  if  it  stimulates  the 
conscience  and  kindles  the  noblest  emotions,  it  can- 

119 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

not  be  false.     The  moralization  of  religion  guaran- 
tees its  rationality. 

In  the  third  place,  the  prophets,  by  binding 
together  religion  and  morality,  made  certain  the  per- 
manence of  religion.  For  religion  when  moralized 
can  never  become  static  and  so  be  rendered  obsolete. 
It  inevitably  progresses  with  conscience  and  will  do 
so  to  the  end  of  time.  Whatever  the  enlightened 
conscience  of  mankind  affirms,  that  true  religion  will 
sanction.  Through  the  indefinite  ages  to  come  we 
may  therefore  rest  assured  that  the  moralized  reli- 
gion of  the  prophets  will  never  be  outgrown ;  it  will 
forever  keep  pace  with  the  progress  of  the  human 
spirit,  and  thus  forever  carry  within  itself  the  au- 
thority of  a  divine  revelation. 

Topics  and  Questions  for  Discussion 

In  what  regards  is  religion  by  its  very  nature 
ethical ? 

In  what  different  ways  may  religion  lose  its  ethical 
character  ? 

In  what  respects  was  the  popular  religion  in  Israel 
before  the  Exile  either  nonmoral  or  immoral?  Give 
the  Scriptural  evidence. 

Show  by  Scriptural  citations  that  the  early  He- 
brew view  of  God  was  in  various  regards  ethically 
imperfect 

I20 


PROPHECY  AND  MORALITY 

What  was  the  supreme  achievement  of  the 
prophets,  and  in  what  three  different  ways  did  they 
bring  it  about  ? 

What  are  the  great  prophetic  passages  that 
express  rejection  of  the  common  trust  in  rites  and 
ceremonies?     (Commit  them  to  memory.) 

Show  that  the  preexiHc  prophets  did  not  reject 
sacrifices  and  other  rites  as  altogether  superfluous  or 
worthless. 

What  later  prophets  emphasized  the  external  ele- 
ments in  worship,  and  what  important  service  did 
they  and  the  priests  render  to  religion  ? 

What  evidence  is  there  that  Moses,  Nathan,  and 
Elijah  made  righteousness  a  vital  factor  in  religion? 

In  what  respect  did  the  teaching  of  the  eighth-cen- 
tury prophets  concerning  religion  and  morality  mark 
an  advance? 

What  in  detail  did  the  preexilic  prophets  under- 
stand by  "righteousness'*? 

How  did  the  prophetic  conception  of  the  Deity 
differ  from  the  heathen  and  early  Hebrew  concep- 
tion? 

In  what  sense  were  the  prophets  moral  idealists? 

How  did  the  prophets  transform  religion  into  the 
most  powerful  agency  for  social  progress  in  the 
world  ? 

How  did  the  prophetic  teaching  tend  to  establish 
the  rationaHty  of  religion? 

121 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

How  does  the  prophetic  standpoint  insure  the 
permanence  of  rehgion  ? 

Bibliography 

The  Book  of  the  Twelve  Prophets,  by  G.  A. 
Smith  (Volume  I,  pages  121-80,  386-99). 

A  Cry  for  Justice,  by  J.  E.  McFadyen  (a  brief  but 
•excellent  exposition  of  the  book  of  Amos). 

The  Social  Teachings  of  the  Prophets  and  Jesus, 
hy  C.  F.  Kent  (pages  39-89). 

The  Hebrew  Prophet,  by  L.  W.  Batten  (pages 
290-316). 

The  Religious  Teaching  of  the  Old  Testament,  by 
A.  C.  Knudson  (pages  154-91). 


122 


CHAPTER     VIII 

PROPHECY  AND   PERSONAL  RELIGIOUS 
EXPERIENCE 

Taking  the  history  of  reHglon  as  a  whole,  we 
may  distinguish  two  main  stages  or  processes  in  the 
development  of  personal  religious  experience.  The 
first  consists  in  the  gradual  detachment  of  the  indi- 
vidual from  the  social  group  to  which  he  belongs, 
and  the  second  consists  in  the  gradual  emancipation 
of  the  inner  life  of  the  individual  from  its  depend- 
ence on  external  conditions.  These  processes  did 
not  follow  each  other  chronologically ;  to  some  extent 
they  went  along  together.  But  one  was  later  in 
reaching  its  full  development  than  the  other, 
and  in  any  case  they  are  sufficiently  distinct  to  be 
kept  apart  and  treated  separately. 

The  prophetic  movement,  as  we  have  repeatedly 
pointed  out,  was  predominantly  national.  The 
prophets  addressed  themselves  to  the  Hebrew  nation 
or  race  rather  than  to  the  individual  Hebrev/.  It 
is  this  fact  that  perhaps  at  first  most  impresses  the 
modern  reader.  We  are  so  accustomed  to  having  the 
religious  appeal  made  to  the  individual  that  it  seems 
strange  to  find  the  prophetic  interest  centering  in 

123 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

the  nation.  With  us  it  is  the  individual  who  is  the 
unit  of  value.  He  alone  is  immortal.  Nations  come 
and  go,  and  the  greatest  of  them  will  soon  have 
passed  away.  No  matter  how  important  national 
distinctions  may  be  at  present  they  have  no  signifi- 
cance for  the  life  to  come.  For  us,  therefore,  the 
individual  alone  is  sacred.  But  the  attitude  of  the 
ancient  prophets  was  almost  the  reverse  of  this. 
With  them  the  nation  was  the  unit  of  value.  It 
was  immortal.  Individual  Hebrews  came  and  went, 
but  Israel  would  abide  forever.  The  one  important 
thing,  consequently,  was  the  redemption  of  the 
nation. 

The  ancient  idea  of  social  solidarity. — In  taking 
this  position  the  prophets  were  not  original;  they 
simply  reflected  the  feeling  of  their  own  day.  In 
antiquity  the  sense  of  social  solidarity  was  strong. 
The  individual  was  subordinated  to  the  family  or 
clan  or  tribe  or  nation  to  which  he  belonged.  It  is 
so  with  all  primitive  peoples.  We  find  it  in  ancient 
Israel.  Innocent  individuals  were  often  punished 
because  of  the  guilt  of  some  relative.  When  Korah, 
Dathan,  and  Abiram  were  destroyed,  "all  that  apper- 
tained to  them"  were  swallowed  up  with  them 
(Num.  i6.  2y  ^.),  and  the  crime  of  Saul  against  the 
Gibeonites  was  visited  upon  seven  of  his  grandsons 
(2  Sam.  21.  1-9).  In  a  similar  way  it  was  believed 
that  the  whole  nation  suffered  because  of  the  sins  of 

124 


PERSONAL  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE 

such  wicked  kings  as  Ahaz  and  Manasseh  (2  Chron. 
28.  19;  2  Kings  21.  10-13).  This  was  the  common 
view.  "The  fathers,"  said  the  people,  ''have  eaten 
sour  grapes,  and  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge" 
(Jer.  31.  29;  Ezek.  18.  2).  On  the  other  hand,  the* 
superior  righteousness  of  an  individual  might  be  the 
source  of  unmerited  favor  to  others.  It  might  bring 
blessing  upon  one's  own  family,  as  in  the  case  of 
Noah  (Gen.  7.  i),  Caleb  (Deut.  i.  36)  and  Obed- 
edom  (2  Sam.  6.  11  f.) ;  or  it  might,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  patriarchs  and  David,  be  a  ground  of  special 
divine  help  and  mercy  to  the  entire  nation  (Gen.  26. 
4,  5,  24;  Lev.  26.  42;  2  Kings  19.  34;  20.  6). 

In  addition  to  this  general  sense  of  social  soli- 
darity there  was  also  in  ancient  Israel  an  intense 
spirit  of  nationality.  Political  ambition  and  reli- 
gious and  racial  peculiarities  all  contributed  to  it. 
It  was  also  fostered  by  the  numerous  wars  in  which 
the  Hebrews  were  engaged.  The  result  was  that 
national  problems  necessarily  came  into  the  fore- 
ground. Before  the  Exile  it  was  the  independence 
and  existence  of  the  state  about  which  the  Israelites 
were  chiefly  concerned.  Later  it  was  restoration  to 
power  and  world-wide  influence  about  which  they 
dreamed. 

This,  of  course,  does  not  mean  that  the  problems 
of  the  individual  were  altogether  overlooked.  In 
the  postexilic  period  they  were  dealt  with  at  length. 

125 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

by  the  "wise  men"  and  also  by  some  of  the  psalmists. 
And  at  no  time  in  Israel's  history  was  the  religious 
consciousness  of  the  individual  completely  submerged 
in  that  of  the  nation  or  any  smaller  group.  The 
individual  always  had  his  own  private  concerns,  and 
these,  as  a  rule,  loomed  largest  in  his  thought.  It 
was  the  affairs  of  the  family — birth  and  marriage, 
sickness  and  death,  personal  success  and  misfortune, 
— that  usually  claimed  his  keenest  interest.  And 
these  were  the  things  that  he  naturally  made  the  most 
frequent  subject  of  his  prayers.  It  could  not  have 
been  otherwise.  But  the  way  in  which  he  at  times 
suffered  because  of  the  sins  of  others  and  the  way 
in  which  his  own  welfare  was  manifestly  dependent 
on  that  of  the  tribe  or  nation  left  his  own  sense 
of  personal  responsibility  and  personal  worth  unde- 
veloped. His  own  destiny,  he  realized,  was  not  in 
his  own  hands,  nor  was  it  necessarily  determined  by 
his  own  conduct.  His  own  family  and  the  nation 
had  more  to  do  with  it  than  he  himself.  If  the 
nation  was  not  saved,  he  could  not  be  saved.  Apart 
from  it  he  could  have  no  direct  relation  to  Jehovah 
and  no  personal  religious  experience  of  his  own.  The 
nation,  therefore,  was  logically  and  properly  the 
chief  object  of  his  religious  interest. 

Such  was  the  common  feeling  in  preexilic  times, 
and  the  prophets  were  naturally  and  necessarily 
influenced  by  it.    With  them  the  redemption  of  the 

126 


PERSONAL  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE 

nation  was  the  main  concern.  And  their  teaching; 
on  this  point  summed  itself  up  in  the  announcement 
that  the  nation  could  not  be  saved  until  it  was  saved 
from  its  moral  sins.  When  that  was  done,  it  would 
have  a  glorious  future,  transcending  all  the  dreams 
of  the  past.  But  while  this  message  probably  satis- 
fied the  purified  national  feeling  of  the  devout  in 
Israel  it  left  their  personal  problems  unsolved.  What 
was  to  become  of  them  personally?  Were  they  to 
be  engulfed  in  the  general  ruin  predicted  by  the 
prophets?  The  thoroughly  ethical  character  of  the 
prophetic  teaching  made  this  problem  more  insist- 
ent than  ever.  For  ethics  is  personal :  it  recognizes 
the  independent  worth  of  the  individual.  Then,  too^ 
even  before  the  time  of  Amos  the  Hebrew  conscience- 
had  apparently  developed  to  a  point  where  it  con- 
demned the  custom  of  slaying  innocent  children 
because  of  the  crimes  of  their  parents  (2  Kings  14. 
6).  And  if  this  was  true  of  the  common  conscience, 
it  is  virtually  certain  that  those  trained  by  the 
prophets  must  have  raised  the  question  whether  it 
was  just  that  the  righteous  should  perish  with  the 
wicked  in  the  impending  national  doom. 

Ezekiel's  doctrine  of  individualism. — The  eighth- 
century  prophets  themselves  did  not  deal  as  directly 
with  this  question  as  we  might  have  expected  they 
would.  Yet  to  a  certain  extent  they  did  meet  it- 
Isaiah,  for  instance,  taught  plainly  and  emphatically 

127 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

the  doctrine  of  the  remnant,  and  the  other  prophets 
probably  also  held  it.  According  to  this  doctrine, 
a  remnant  would  be  saved  in  the  approaching  judg- 
ment, but  only  a  remnant.  This  remnant  would  be 
made  up  of  the  righteous — such  as  accepted  the 
teaching  of  the  prophets — and  would  become  the 
nucleus  of  the  Messianic  kingdom.  But  the  Mes- 
sianic kingdom  did  not  come;  the  righteous  con- 
tinued to  suffer  and  die.  Consequently,  the  feeling 
arose,  especially  among  the  exiles,  that  they  were 
not  being  fairly  treated;  they  were  being  punished 
for  the  sins  of  the  fathers.  And  so  long  as  this  was 
the  case  they  felt  that  there  was  no  hope  for  them. 
It  was  to  meet  this  mood  that  Ezekiel  came  forward 
-with  his  great  declaration  of  the  individual's  moral 
independence.  The  old  idea  of  social  solidarity, 
he  asserted,  is  false.  ''All  souls,"  said  Jehovah,  "are 
mine;  as  the  soul  of  the  father,  so  also  the  soul  of 
the  son  is  mine :  the  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die'' 
( i8.  4).  No  man  is  punished  because  of  the  sins  of 
others.  It  is  his  own  conduct,  and  that  only,  that 
determines  his  destiny.  Every  man's  fate  lies  in  his 
own  hands.  Each  one  decides  for  himself  the  ques- 
tion of  life  and  death.  "Cast  away  from  you  all 
your  transgressions,  wherein  ye  have  transgressed; 
and  make  you  a  new  heart  .  .  .  :  for  why  will 
ye  die,  O  house  of  Israel?  For  I  have  no  pleasure 
in  the  death  of  him  that  dieth,  saith  the  Lord  Jeho- 

128 


PERSONAL  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE 
vah:   wherefore  turn  yourselves,  and  live."  (i8.  31 

f.) 

The  idea  that  each  man  is  the  arbiter  of  his  own 
destiny  hardly  fits  in  with  the  actual  facts  of  life. 
It  hardly  can  be  denied  that  the  innocent  often  suffer 
with  the  guilty,  and  that  a  man  frequently  becomes 
the  slave  of  his  own  evil  habits.  But  in  the  ideal  it  is 
evident  that  no  one  should  be  condemned  because  of 
what  anyone  else  has  done  or  has  not  done ;  his  own 
conduct,  and  that  only,  should  determine  his  treat- 
ment at  the  hands  of  God.  And  it  is  from  this  ideal 
point  of  view  that  Ezekiel's  doctrine  of  individual- 
ism is  to  be  understood.  The  prophet  does  not  mean 
to  say  that  at  present  every  man  is  actually  rewarded 
according  to  his  deeds  (see  21.  3),  but  that  in  his 
relation  to  God  it  is  the  personal  and  ethical  element 
that  alone  is  taken  into  account.  As  a  moral  being 
every  person  in  the  last  analysis  stands  in  his  own 
right;  his  fate  is  not  determined  by  the  social  group- 
to  which  he  happens  to  belong.  The  destruction  of 
his  relatives  or  neighbors  does  not  necessarily  mean 
his  own  destruction,  and  their  redemption  does  not 
necessarily  mean  his  redemption  (Ezek.  14.  12-20). 
The  individual  himself  is  the  unit  of  value  and  as 
such  stands  in  a  direct  relation  to  God. 

The  ancient  conception  of  sin,  suffering,  and  sal- 
vation.—It  is  thus  to  Ezekiel  that  the  distinction 
belongs  of  having  first  detached  the  individual  from 

129 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

his  social  environment  and  asserted  for  him  complete 
religious  independence;  but  in  so  doing  he  did  not 
release  the  inner  life  of  man  from  its  dependence  on 
external  conditions.  He  declared  that  there  was 
perfect  harmony  between  inner  worth  and  outward 
fortune.  A  man's  degree  of  health  and  prosperity 
was  a  valid  index  to  his  character.  And  in  the 
abstract  this  is  no  doubt  what  the  moral  law 
requires.  The  law  of  duty  and  the  law  of  happi- 
ness should  correspond;  but  in  actual  life  they  often 
do  not.  Ezekiel,  however,  did  not  himself  clearly 
distinguish  between  the  abstract  and  concrete  points 
of  view.  The  righteous,  he  said,  would  live,  and 
the  wicked  die;  but  exactly  what  "life''  and  "death" 
meant,  he  did  not  say.  People  generally  understood 
him  as  meaning  physical  life  and  death  or,  in 
broader  terms,  material  prosperity  and  adversity. 
That  in  this  external  way  righteousness  was 
rewarded  and  wickedness  punished  had  been  the 
common  belief  for  ages,  and  after  the  time  of  Eze- 
kiel it  tended  to  become  a  dogma.  All  suffering  and 
misfortune  were  looked  upon  as  evidences  of  sinful- 
ness, while  health  and  prosperity  were  regarded  as 
indications  of  the  divine  favor.  The  inner  religious 
experience  of  a  man  was  thus  dependent  on  out- 
ward conditions.  If  he  was  well  and  prosperous, 
he  enjoyed  the  divine  presence:  his  sins  were  for- 
given, and  he  was  at  peace  with  God.     If,  on  the 

130 


PERSONAL  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE 

other  hand,  he  was  in  poor  health  and  otherwise 
unfortunate,  he  feh  that  the  Deity  was  estranged 
from  him;  and  not  until  he  had  been  restored  to 
health  and  prosperity  could  he  be  assured  of  for- 
giveness and  the  divine  approval. 

This  was  the  common  belief  in  early  Israel,  as  it 
was  among  ancient  peoples  generally.  It  was  applied 
both  to  individuals  and  the  nation  as  a  whole.  Any 
evil  from  which  the  people,  either  individually  or 
collectively,  suffered  was  supposed  to  be  due  to  sin. 
The  sin  might  be  intentional  or  unintentional.  It 
might  be  one's  own  or  that  of  some  relative.  It 
might  be  ceremonial  or  distinctly  ethical.  But  sin 
in  some  sense  was  generally  regarded  as  at  the  root 
of  every  eviL  And  not  only  was  this  true  of  the 
special  misfortunes  that  befell  the  nation  or  indi- 
viduals in  it:  it  held  also  for  the  great  ills  of  the 
human  race  as  a  whole.  In  Gen.  2,  3  the  pains  of 
childbirth  and  the  tyranny  to  which  women  in  antiq- 
uity were  subject  at  the  hands  of  their  husbands^ 
the  unresponsiveness  of  the  soil,  its  useless  and 
injurious  products,  the  laborious  toil  of  agricultural 
life,  and  even  death  itself  are  attributed  to  the  primal 
sin  of  man. 

But  this  profound  and  universal  application  of  the 
ancient  doctrine  of  sin  and  suffering  seems  not 
to  have  been  widely  current  in  early  Israel,  as  there 
is  no  reference  to  it  anywhere  else  in  the  Old  Testa- 

131 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEAIENT    IN    ISRAEL 

ment.  If  it  had  been,  it  would  probably  have  given 
rise  to  a  general  feeling  of  pessimism,  for  at  that 
time  there  was,  according  to  the  common  belief,  no 
such  thing  as  salvation  from  sin  without  salvation 
from  its  penalty.  If  the  penalty  persisted,  that  was 
evidence  of  the  persistence  of  the  divine  disfavor. 
Hence,  in  the  presence  of  such  permanent  evils  as 
those  spoken  of  in  Gen.  3,  the  early  Israelites  would 
have  been  without  hope  if  they  had  regarded  them  as 
penalties  for  sin.  But  this  they  apparently  did  not ; 
they  seem  as  a  whole  to  have  contented  themselves 
with  applying  the  current  view  of  sin  and  suffering 
only  to  the  occasional  and  more  special  evils  of  life. 
To  be  saved  in  that  early  day,  therefore,  meant  simply 
deliverance  from  these  particular  evils.  It  meant 
for  the  nation  release  from  captivity  in  Egypt  or 
Babylonia  (Exod.  14.  30;  Jer.  23.  6-8),  victory  over 
its  enemies  (i  Sam.  9.  16),  and  general  prosperity 
(i  Sam.  10.  19;  Psa.  118.  25);  and,  likewise,  for 
the  individual  it  meant  escape  from  danger  (2  Sam. 
22.  3  f.)j  recovery  from  sickness  (Isa.  38.  iff.), 
and  enjoyment  of  the  good  things  of  life  (Gen.  39. 
3).  The  outward  experience  thus  determined  the 
inner  religious  feeling.  The  latter  was  only  a  reflec- 
tion of  the  former. 

This,  however,  does  not  mean  that  it  was  the 
things  of  sense  and  external  success  as  such  that 
the  Hebrews  most  prized.     What  made  material 

132 


PERSONAL  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE 

prosperity  so  prominent  a  factor  in  their  religious 
thought  was  the  fact  that  they  saw  in  it  a  symbol 
of  the  divine  favor.  The  material  goods  of  life  had 
for  them  a  sacramental  quality.  They  brought  God 
near  to  them.  But  while  the  common  Jewish  view 
of  life  was  thus  not  sensual  or  worldly,  it  was  seri- 
ously defective  from  the  religious  point  of  view. 
For  one  thing,  it  deprived  the  poor  and  unfortunate 
— those  who  needed  it  most — of  the  consolations  of 
religion.  Their  very  poverty,  sickness,  and  misfor- 
tune carried  with  them  the  sense  of  estrangement 
from  God.  And  this,  in  the  next  place,  robbed  faith 
of  its  conquering  power.  If  the  adversities  of  life 
were  all  a  divine  judgment  for  sins  committed,  one 
would  by  that  very  fact  be  left  without  courage  to 
struggle  against  them.  Then,  in  the  third  place,, 
this  view  of  suffering  conflicts  with  the  patent  facts 
of  life.  As  a  rule,  it  is  no  doubt  true  that  the  way 
of  the  transgressor  is  hard,  and  that  the  wicked  man 
in  the  end  comes  to  grief.  Society  is  so  organized  as 
to  make  this  inevitable.  But  there  are  numerous 
exceptions  to  the  rule:  the  righteous  often  suffer,- 
while  the  wicked  spread  themselves  as  the  green  bay 
tree. 

Jeremiah's  example  and  its  significance. — It  was 
the  last  fact  especially  that  eventually  compelled  a 
revision  of  the  earlier  theory  of  suffering.  But  the 
revision  was  slow  in  establishing  itself  in  popular 

133 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

thought.  There  was  enough  truth  in  the  older  view 
to  keep  it  afloat  long  after  it  had  been  proved  unsea- 
worthy.  Indeed,  the  Old  Testament  writers  as  a 
whole  never  discarded  it.  Such  a  late  book  as 
Proverbs  reaffirms  it  time  and  again.  But  the  pro- 
founder  spirits  from  the  time  of  Jeremiah  on  broke 
away  from  it.  The  eighth-century  prophets  had  in 
a  general  way  accepted  it  and  applied  it  to  the  nation, 
and  in  this  broader  application  Jeremiah  also 
indorsed  it.  But  he  was  not  content  to  see  the 
retributive  hand  of  God  only  in  the  national  his- 
tory: he  must  see  it  also  in  the  experiences  of  the 
individual,  and  especially  in  his  own  experiences. 
But  here  he  found  it  by  no  means  so  easy  to  apply 
the  principle  of  retributive  righteousness.  Indeed, 
he  found  it  contradicted  on  every  hand. 

So  far  as  the  individual  in  general  is  concerned, 
Jeremiah  merely  raised  the  problem  of  the  divine 
justice,  asking  why  it  is  that  the  way  of  the  wicked 
prospers,  and  then  dismissed  it  (12.  1-6) ;  but  when 
it  came  to  his  own  experiences,  the  problem  was 
more  persistent.  He  could  not  shake  himself  free 
from  it.  His  sensitive  nature  compelled  attention 
to  it;  and  the  more  he  reflected  on  it  the  more  he 
became  persuaded  that  his  own  experiences  were  a 
contradiction  of  the  principle  of  the  divine  justice. 
God  was  not  dealing  fairly  with  him,  and  this  tended 
to  make  him  rebellious.    He  complained  bitterly  and 

134 


PERSONAL  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE 

at  times  despairingly  of  his  unjust  sufferings  (20. 
7-18).  God  had  enticed  him,  deceived  him,  into 
becoming  a  prophet.  But  such  feehngs  as  these,  on 
the  other  hand,  disturbed  him.  For  he  was  by 
nature  introspective — the  psychologist  among  the 
prophets.  He  observed  and  reflected  on  his  own 
mental  states  as  well  as  on  his  objective  experiences. 
And  that  he,  a  prophet,  should  have  entertained  such 
feelings  of  bitterness  and  despair  seemed  to  him  in 
his  calmer  moments  altogether  unfitting.  There 
arose  thus  within  him  a  conflict  between  the  outer 
and  the  inner  man.  This  conflict  came  to  a  head  in 
chapter  15  (verses  18,  19).  The  prophet  here 
in  his  pain  and  anguish  cries  out  bitterly  to  God, 
"Wilt  thou  indeed  be  unto  me  as  a  deceitful  brook, 
as  waters  that  fail?'*  But  as  he  does  so,  it  dawns 
upon  him  that  such  words  are  equivalent  to  apostasy, 
and  he  hears  Jehovah,  in  mild  but  impressive 
rebuke,  saying  to  him:  "If  thou  return,  then  will  I 
bring  thee  again,  that  thou  mayest  stand  before  me; 
and  if  thou  take  forth  the  precious  from  the  vile, 
thou  shalt  be  as  my  mouth."  There  thus  flashes 
upon  the  prophet's  mind  the  thought  that,  after  all, 
the  greatest  good  of  life  is  to  be  found  in  standing 
before  God  and  having  fellowship  with  him..  What- 
ever painful  outward  experiences  he  may  be  sub- 
ject to,  they  should  be  counted  as  nothing  when  com- 
pared with  the  privilege  of  knowing  God  and  being 

135 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

his  messenger.  His  chief  personal  problem,  there- 
fore, became  one  of  the  inner  life — how  to  keep  his 
heart  right  before  God.  This,  he  realized,  however, 
was  beyond  his  own  strength ;  so  he  cried :  "Heal 
me,  O  Jehovah,  and  I  shall  be  healed ;  save  me,  and 
I  shall  be  saved"  (17.  14).  In  this  prayer  we  have 
the  first  instance  in  which  the  idea  of  salvation  is 
applied  to  the  inner  life  alone.  Thus,  out  of  Jere- 
miah's anguish  and  travail  of  spirit  we  see  the  birth 
of  the  "soul." 

Henceforth,  the  inner  life  stands  in  its  own  right, 
and  the  supreme  need  of  all  who  have  turned  away 
from  God  is  that  of  a  new  heart.  Ezekiel  echoed 
the  latter  thought  in  his  picture  of  the  better  future 
(11.  19;  36.  26),  and  one  of  the  psalmists  gave  to 
it  a  classic  expression :  "Create  in  me  a  clean  heart, 
O  God;  and  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me"  (51. 
10).  The  center  of  gravity  of  the  religious  life  thus 
moved  from  the  outer  to  the  inner  world,  and  the 
paramount  question  in  religious  experience  became 
one  as  to  the  state  of  the  soul.  But  it  was  only  very 
gradually  that  this  emancipation  of  the  inner  life 
from  its  dependence  on  external  conditions  was 
effected  in  popular  thought.  "Two  Hebrew 
writers  of  supreme  intellectual  and  spiritual 
power"  contributed  in  large  measure  to  it.  One  was 
the  author  of  Isa.  40-66.  For  him  the  suffering  of 
the  Servant  was  not  due  to  his  own  sins;  it  was 

136 


PERSONAL  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE 

vicarious  and  redemptive.  It  was  endured  because 
of  and  for  the  sake  of  the  heathen  world  (chapter 
53  ) .  The  other  was  the  author  of  Job.  For  him  too 
the  suffering  of  the  righteous  was  an  estabHshed 
fact.  It  might  be  a  trial  of  faith,  a  test  of  one's 
disinterested  righteousness ;  or  it  might  have  a  dis- 
ciplinary value.  In  any  case  it  did  not  indicate  the 
estrangement  of  God.  "Though  he  slay  me,  yet 
will  I  wait  for  him."  Such  was  Job's  attitude.  With 
him  faith  triumphed  over  the  most  untoward  circum- 
stances, and  so  it  might  be  with  all  true  believers. 
The  soul's  fellowship  with  God  was  thus  liberated 
from  its  dependence  on  outward  experience.  It  now 
stood  by  itself  as  the  chief  good  of  life.  This  is 
perhaps  the  profoundest  thought  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. It  received  its  purest  and  most  adequate 
expression  in  the  seventy-third  psalm,  where  we 
read,  "Whom  have  I  in  heaven  but  thee?  and  there 
is  none  upon  earth  that  I  desire  besides  thee"  (verse 
25);  but  it  was  the  prophet  Jeremiah  who  above 
everyone  else  was  its  creative  source.  He  was  the 
human  agent  through  whom  the  divine  Spirit  first 
revealed  the  innermost  truth  and  highest  form  of 
religious  experience. 

Topics  and  Questions  for  Discussion 

What  were  the  two  main  stages  or  processes  in 
the  development  of  religious  individualism? 

137 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

How  did  the  prophetic  attitude  toward  the  nation 
and  the  individual  differ  from  ours  ? 

Show  by  Scriptural  citations  how  the  idea  of  social 
solidarity  prevailed  in  ancient  Israel. 

What  made  the  sense  of  nationality  so  strong 
among  the  Hebrews  ? 

How^  did  the  private  religious  interests  of  the 
ancient  Hebrew  come  to  be  subordinated  to  those  of 
the  nation  ?  ( See  the  author's  The  Beacon  Lights  of 
Prophecy,  page  68.) 

Why  did  the  preexilic  prophet's  message  to  the 
nation  fail  to  satisfy  the  personal  needs  of  the  devout 
Hebrew? 

Isaiah's  doctrine  of  the  remnant,  and  its  inade- 
quacy.    (See  Isa.  7.  3 ;  8.  16-18;  10.  20  ff.) 

What  attitude  did  Ezekiel  take  toward  the  old 
doctrine  of  social  solidarity,  and  why? 

Does  Ezekiel's  doctrine  of  individualism  (chap- 
ter 18)  square  with  the  facts  of  life?  If  not,  how 
is  it  to  be  understood  ? 

What,  according  to  the  common  ancient  view, 
did  adversity  and  prosperity  indicate  with  reference 
to  one's  relation  to  God? 

What  did  the  early  Hebrews  understand  by  "sal- 
vation" ? 

Point  out  the  religious  defects  of  the  view  that 
suffering  is  always  due  to  sin. 

What  do  we  learn  from  Jer.  12.  1-6;  20.  7-18; 

138 


PERSONAL  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE 

15.  18,  19  concerning  Jeremiah's  view  of  the  rela- 
tion of  suffering  to  sin  and  to  reHgious  experience  ? 

What  special  significance  attaches  to  Jer.  17.  14? 

What  great  truth  concerning  personal  religious 
experience  do  we  owe  to  Jeremiah,  and  in  what 
psalm  did  it  receive  its  purest  expression? 

How  did  Deutero-Isaiah  and  Job  reenforce  and 
develop  the  teaching  of  Jeremiah  concerning  the 
relation  of  adversity  to  religious  experience? 

Bibliography 

The  Prophets  of  the  Old  Testament,  by  A.  R. 
Gordon  (pages  194-210,  232-51). 

The  Religious  Ideas  of  the  Old  Testament,  by 
H.  W.  Robinson  (pages  83-91,  159-83). 

The  Book  of  the  Twelve  Prophets,  by  G.  A.  Smith 
(Volume  I,  pages  318-45,  419-25)- 

The  Religious  Teaching  of  the  Old  Testament, 
by  A.  C.  Knudson  (pages  266-89,  331-50). 


139 


CHAPTER  IX 

PROPHECY  AND  THE  WORLD 

The  prophetic  movement  was  national  in  a  two- 
fold sense :  first,  in  the  sense  that  it  had  to  do  with 
the  Israelitic  nation  as  a  whole  rather  than  with 
individual  Israelites;  and,  secondly,  in  the  sense 
that  it  was  concerned  with  a  particular  nation  rather 
than  with  the  world  as  a  whole.  The  nationalism  of 
the  prophets  is  thus  to  be  distinguished  from  individ- 
ualism, on  the  one  hand,  and  universalism,  on  the 
other.  As  against  the  latter  it  represents  particular- 
ism, and  as  against  the  former  socialism.  There  was, 
however,  no  direct  antithesis  between  prophetic  na- 
tionalism and  either  individualism  or  universalism. 
The  nationalism  of  the  prophets  was  traditional.  It 
simply  reflected  the  undeveloped  sentiment  and 
thought  of  the  day.  It  did  not  grow  out  of  the  con- 
viction that  the  socialistic  standpoint,  implied  in 
nationalism,  is  superior  to  the  individualistic.  It 
carried  with  it  no  polemic  against  individualism. 
Rather  did  the  prophetic  teaching,  as  we  have  seen, 
promote  the  recognition  of  the  independence  of  the 
individual  and  of  his  inner  life.  Jeremiah  and  Eze- 
kiel  made  notable  contributions   to  individualism. 

140 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  WORLD 

Indeed,  they  may  be  regarded  as  its  creators.  In- 
stead, then,  of  prophecy's  being  opposed  to  indi- 
viduaHsm,  the  reverse  was  the  case.  IndividuaHsm 
was  the  product  of  the  prophetic  movement.  Per- 
haps we  may  call  it  a  by-product.  But  if  so,  the 
by-product  expressed  the  true  genius  of  the  move- 
ment better  than  the  traditional  nationalism  reflected 
in  it.  Religious  individualism,  although  not  directly 
aimed  at  by  the  prophets  and  although  running  in  a 
different  channel  from  their  work  as  a  whole,  was 
still  one  of  their  main  achievements. 

The  same  is  to  be  said  of  religious  universalism. 
It  too  may  be  regarded  as  a  by-product  of  the  pro- 
phetic movement.  The  prophets  themselves  were  on 
the  whole  concerned  only  with  their  own  people,  with 
the  redemption  of  Israel.  In  that  sense  they  were 
particularists.  But  they  did  not  champion  the  cause 
of  particularism  as  over  against  that  of  universal- 
ism; their  particularism  was  simply  the  traditional 
shell  out  of  which  they  were  half  consciously  grow- 
ing. They  did  not  directly  aim  at  the  conversion  of 
the  heathen:  they  did  not,  for  instance,  carry  on 
missionary  work  among  them.  Nevertheless,  the 
whole  prophetic  movement  pointed  in  the  direction 
of  a  world  religion.  Universalism  was  the  logical 
outcome  of  prophecy,  its  ripe  fruitage,  quite  as  much 
so  as  was  individualism.  Indeed,  universalism  and 
individualism  logically  go  together.     If  every  indi- 

141 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

vidual  stands  in  a  direct  relation  to  God,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  it  makes  no  difference  to  what  nation  one 
belongs.  All  men  are  children  of  the  Most  High, 
and  the  only  true  religion  is  a  universal  religion. 
This  conclusion  was  not  logically  deduced  by  the 
prophets,  but  they  worked  more  or  less  consciously 
toward  it.  The  purpose  of  the  present  chapter  is  to 
point  out  the  steps  in  this  development. 

The  early  Israelitic  attitude  toward  the  outside 
world.^ — It  was  only  gradually  that  the  Hebrews 
came  to  full  national  self-consciousness.  At  first 
they  did  not  sharply  differentiate  themselves  from 
other  peoples.  They  looked  upon  Jehovah,  it  is  true, 
as  a  jealous  Deity.  He  would  brook  no  rival  in 
Israel.  But  he  was  not  thought  of  as  aggressive. 
He  did  not  aim  at  world  domination  or  even  domina- 
tion of  the  neighboring  peoples.  Each  people,  it  was 
thought,  had  its  own  god  or  gods,  and  each  god  was 
to  be  worshiped  by  his  own  people.  In  this  regard 
Jehovah  stood  on  the  same  plane  as  the  other  deities. 
He  was  God  of  Israel  only  in  the  same  sense  as 
Chemosh  was  god  of  Moab  (Judg.  ii.  24).  When 
a  man  was  driven  into  another  land,  it  was  equiva- 
lent to  saying  to  him,  "Go,  serve  other  gods"  (i 
Sam.  26.  19).  The  Israelites  naturally  regarded 
Jehovah  as  more  powerful  than  other  deities.  He 
had  created  the  world  and  was  equal  to  any  legiti- 
mate claim  that  they  might  make  upon  him.     But 

142 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  WORLD 

he  was  not  the  only  deity.  There  were  other  gods, 
and  these  gods  had  a  right  to  be  worshiped  by  their 
own  people.  There  was  thus  no  distinctively  reli- 
gious antipathy  between  early  Israel  and  the  outside 
world.  At  any  rate,  there  was  none  due  to  the 
aggressiveness  of  the  Hebrews. 

Some  resentment  may  have  been  awakened  among 
the  neighboring  peoples  by  the  jealousy  with  which 
the  purity  of  Jehovah  worship  was  guarded.  The 
prophets,  for  instance,  looked  with  strong  dis- 
favor upon  the  worship  of  heathen  deities  in 
IsraeHtic  territory  under  any  circumstances,  even 
when  practiced  by  the  foreign  wives  of  the  kings. 
And  when  Jezebel,  the  wife  of  Ahab,  introduced 
into  Israel  the  worship  of  the  Tyrian  Baal  and  appar- 
ently promoted  it,  Elijah  went  so  far  as  to  deny 
that  Baal  was  a  deity  at  all.  Jehovah,  he  insisted, 
alone  was  God.  This  attitude,  in  so  far  as  it  became 
known  among  the  neighboring  peoples,  probably  gave 
rise  to  more  or  less  of  ill  will.  But,  in  general,  there 
was  very  little,  if  any,  purely  religious  hostility 
between  early  Israel  and  her  neighbors. 

There  were,  however,  strong  national  and  politi- 
cal antipathies  between  them,  and  these  to  some 
extent  took  on  a  religious  cast.  Israel  had  been  at 
war  so  frequently  with  her  neighbors — with  the 
Philistines,  the  Edomites,  the  Moabites,  the  Ammon- 
ites, and  the  Syrians — that  it  was  inevitable  that 

143 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

there  should  be  bitter  enmity  between  them.  And 
since  Jehovah  was  the  national  God  of  the  Hebrews, 
their  enemies  became  his  enemies  (i  Sam.  30.  26). 
He  had  therefore  no  interest  in  these  peoples  except 
to  destroy  them.  His  beneficent  interest  was  con- 
fined to  the  Israelites.  He  cared  for  them  but  for 
no  others.  And  the  incomparable  greatness  attrib- 
uted to  him  by  the  prophets  only  increased  their 
national  pride  and  self-confidence.  It  made  them 
feel  that  the  only  real  Deity  there  was,  was  on  the 
people's  side.  They  were  certain,  consequently,  of 
ultimate  triumph  over  their  enemies.  There  would, 
they  thought,  be  a  great  day  of  Jehovah,  in  which 
all  hostile  powers  of  the  world  would  be  overthrown, 
and  the  Israelitic  kingdom  established  forever  in 
independence  and  security. 

The  heathen  world  in  the  thought  of  the  preexilic 
prophets. — Such  was  the  common  attitude  toward 
the  outside  world  which  confronted  the  preexilic 
prophets.  One  factor  in  it  they  all  accepted.  That 
was  the  unique  position  of  Israel.  "You  only,"  we 
read  in  Amos,  "have  I  known  of  all  the  families  of 
the  earth"  (3.  2) ;  and  in  Hosea,  Jehovah  says, 
"When  Israel  was  a  child,  then  I  loved  him,  and 
called  my  son  out  of  Egypt"  (11.  i ) .  "Israel,"  says 
Jeremiah,  ''was  holiness  unto  Jehovah,  the  first- 
fruits  of  his  increase"  (2.  3).  This  was  the  convic- 
tion of  all  the  prophets.     They  all  believed  that 

144 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  WORLD 

Israel  was  the  chosen  of  Jehovah.  Indeed,  this 
behef  underHes  every  characteristic  expression  of 
Hebrew  thought.  It  was  a  basic  assumption  of  all 
the  inspired  writers.  But  in  other  respects  the  pro- 
phetic conception  of  Israel  and  the  heathen  world 
diverged  sharply  from  the  popular  view. 

First,  the  prophets  asserted  the  universal  provi- 
dence of  God.  The  Israelites  had  no  monopoly  of 
the  divine  favor.  Special  manifestations  of  Jeho- 
vah's good  will  had  no  doubt  been  made  to  them. 
One  fact  they  were  particularly  fond  of  referring 
to  was  the  deliverance  from  Egypt.  But,  said  Jeho- 
vah, "Have  not  I  brought  up  Israel  out  of  the  land 
of  Egypt,  and  the  Philistines  from  Caphtor,  and  the 
Syrians  from  Kir?"  (Amos  9.  7).  The  marvelous 
deliverance  from  Egypt  has  its  parallel  in  the  history 
of  other  peoples.  God  cares  for  them  also.  In  this 
respect  "are  ye  not  as  the  children  of  the  Ethiopians 
unto  me,  O  children  of  Israel?  saith  Jehovah" 
(Amos  9.  7).  The  election  of  Israel,  whatever  else 
it  might  mean,  did  not  mean  the  possession  by  Israel 
of  any  selfish  privilege. 

Secondly,  the  prophets  declared  that  there  was 
one  law  for  all  men,  and  that  the  moral  law.  Ethics 
is  no  respecter  of  persons.  It  knows  no  races  and 
no  nations.  The  obligations  it  imposes  are  universal, 
and  the  punishment  it  threatens  is  equally  universal. 
Doom  would  come  upon  Israel's  enemies,   as  the 

145 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

people  expected  and  desired  (Amos  i.  2  to  2.  3) ;  but 
it  would  come  upon  them  not  simply  because  they 
were  hostile  to  Israel  but  because  of  their  violation 
of  the  moral  law.  And  for  the  same  reason  doom 
would  also  fall  upon  Israel  (Amos  2.  6-16).  Her 
favored  position  would  not  exempt  her.  Indeed,  it 
made  her  doom  all  the  more  certain.  "You  only 
have  I  known  of  all  the  families  of  the  earth :  there- 
fore will  I  visit  upon  you  all  your  iniquities"  (Amos 
3.  2).  The  "therefore"  in  this  verse  has  been  said 
to  be  the  most  significant  "therefore"  in  all  litera- 
ture. To  many  of  the  Hebrews  it  must  have  come  as 
a  distinct  shock.  They  had  been  accustomed  to 
deduce  from  the  fact  of  their  election  the  assurance 
that  Jehovah  would  protect  them  despite  their  sins, 
but  here  the  prophet  draws  from  it  the  very  reverse 
conclusion.  "Your  election,"  he  says,  "means  sim- 
ply increased  opportunity,  and  increased  opportunity 
means  increased  responsibility,  and  increased  respon- 
sibility means  increased  guilt  in  the  case  of  wrongdo- 
ing, and  increased  guilt  means  increased  certainty  of 
punishment."  The  logic  is  irrefragable.  It  has  its 
bearing  also  upon  the  prophet's  conception  of  the 
heathen.  They  had  less  light  than  the  Hebrews  and 
would  be  judged  accordingly.  Jehovah,  if  anything, 
would  deal  less  severely  with  them  than  with  his 
own  people.  He  consequently  did  not  hesitate  to 
use  them  in  disciplining  Israel.     He  made  Assyria 

146 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  WORLD        i  ^    ' 

the  rod  of  his  anger  and  the  staff  of  his  indignation' 
(Isa.  10.  5)  and  he  raised  up  the  Chaldeans  to  punn 
ish  the  wicked  in  Judah  (Hab.  i.  6  ff.). 

In  the  third  place,  some  at  least  of  the  preexilic 
prophets  looked  forward  to  the  time  when  all  peo- 
ples would  worship  Jehovah.  This  did  not  form  a 
part  of  their  regular  preaching.  The  conditions 
of  the  time  did  not  call  for  or  even  admit  of  that. 
With  the  nation  struggling  for  its  very  existence  no 
time  or  strength  was  left  for  missionary  activity. 
But  such  an  outlook  into  the  future  was  neverthe- 
less the  logical  consequence  of  the  prophetic  teach- 
ing, n  the  whole  world  was  full  of  Jehovah's  glory, 
as  Isaiah  said  (6.  3),  it  was  inevitable  that  some  of 
the  prophets  would  now  and  then  look  forward  to 
the  time  when  this  fact  would  be  generally  recog- 
nized. We  have  in  Isaiah,  consequently,  that  great 
passage,  already  referred  to  in  another  connection, 
in  which  Jerusalem  is  represented  as  the  religious 
center  of  the  world  (2.  2-4).  The  Temple  hill  is  to 
be  exalted  above  all  other  mountains,  and  the  nations 
of  the  world  are  to  flow  thither  to  receive  instruction 
and  guidance  from  Jehovah.  Jeremiah  likewise,  a 
century  later,  represented  the  heathen  as  coming 
unto  Jehovah  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  say- 
ing: "Our  fathers  have  inherited  nought  but  lies, 
even  vanity  and  things  wherein  there  is  no  profit. 
Shall  a  man  make  unto  himself  gods,  which  yet  are 

147 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

no  gods?"  (i6.  19-20).  In  Ezekiel  there  is  also  a 
passage  (16.  53-63)  which  seems  to  look  forward 
to  the  conversion  and  redemption  of  the  heathen,  the 
heathen  in  this  case  being  symbolized  by  "Sodom." 
But  such  passages  as  these  were  wholly  incidental 
to  the  main  teaching  of  the  preexilic  prophets.  The 
ultimate  fate  of  the  heathen  world  had  no  fixed 
place  in  their  thought. 

The  universalism  of  Deutero-Isaiah  and  other 
postexilic  prophets.— It  was  the  Exile  that  first 
forced  the  prophets  to  reflect  on  the  religious  mean- 
ing of  heathendom  and  led  them  to  seek  to  deter- 
mine its  place  in  the  divine  plan.  Their  own  start- 
ing point  was  still  Israel.  It  was  the  destiny  of  their 
own  chosen  people  with  which  they  were  primarily 
concerned.  But  the  Jews  now  stood  face  to  face 
with  the  heathen  world,  as  they  had  not  done  before. 
It  now  confronted  them  not  simply  as  a  hostile  politi- 
cal power  but  as  a  great  religious  fact.  On  every 
hand  they  saw  its  institutions.  They  were  sur- 
rounded by  its  pervasive  influence.  Its  imposing 
civilization  awed  them;  and  no  doubt  many  a  Jew 
yielded  to  its  enticements  and  renounced  his  ances- 
tral faith.  The  new  situation  thus  created  a  prob- 
lem, which  the  religious  leaders  of  the  nation  could 
not  neglect.  If  they  were  to  keep  their  people  true 
to  the  faith  of  the  fathers,  they  must  explain  in  a 
satisfactory  way  to  them  the  fact  of  heathenism. 

148 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  WORLD 

They  must  make  clear  to  them  their  own  relation 
to  the  heathen  world  and  must  give  them  a  strong 
persuasion  of  the  certainty  of  the  triumph  of  their 
own  faith. 

The  latter  aim  could  be  attained  only  by  inculcat- 
ing the  belief  in  the  sole  Godhead  of  Jehovah.  And 
this  Deutero-Isaiah  did  with  persuasive  eloquence. 
Time  and  again  he  says  as  the  mouthpiece  of  Jeho- 
vah: "I  am  Jehovah,  and  there  is  none  else;  besides 
me  there  is  no  God  .  .  .  Before  me  there  was  no 
God  formed,  neither  shall  there  be  after  me.  I,  even 
I,  am  Jehovah;  and  besides  me  there  is  no  saviour. 
I  am  God,  and  there  is  none  else  ...  I  am  the 
first,  and  I  am  the  last;  and  besides  me  there  is  no 
God"  (45.  5;  43.  10,  11;  45.  22;  44.  6).  ^'Who,'' 
he  asks,  "hath  measured  the  waters  in  the  hollow  of 
his  hand,  and  meted  out  heaven  with  the  span"  (40. 
12)  ?  The  question  needs  no  answer.  It  is  Jeho- 
vah "that  maketh  all  things;  that  stretcheth  forth 
the  heavens  alone ;  that  spreadeth  abroad  the  earth" 
(44.  24).  He  is  "the  everlasting  God,"  "the  high 
and  lofty  One  that  inhabiteth  eternity"  (57.  15). 
The  Hebrew  exiles,  therefore,  have  nothing  to  fear 
from  the  heathen  idols  (44.  6-20),  these  idols  which 
are  only  the  work  of  men's  hands;  and  the  proud 
civilization  that  has  been  built  up  about  them  is  an 
empty  shell. 

This  conception  of  Jehovah  and  the  heathen  gods 

149 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

would  seem  necessarily  to  carry  with  it  the  conclu- 
sion that  Jehovah  ought  to  be  worshiped  by  all  the 
peoples  of  the  earth,  and  that  it  was  Israel's  duty 
to  make  him  known  to  the  heathen.  In  other  words, 
monotheism  would  seem  to  imply  universalism  as  its 
corollary.  But  monotheism  was  held  by  the  eighth- 
century  prophets,  and  they  evidently  did  not  draw 
the  universalistic  conclusion  so  far  as  it  related  to 
Israel's  missionary  duty  to  the  outside  world.  This 
was  also  true  of  many  of  the  exilic  and  postexilic 
Jews.  Some  seem  to  have  contented  themselves  with 
the  view  that  heathenism  was  a  part  of  the  original 
divine  plan,  and  that  nothing  more,  therefore,  need 
be  done  about  it.  In  Deut.  4.  19,  for  instance,  we 
are  told  that  Jehovah  "allotted"  the  heathen  peoples 
the  heavenly  bodies  as  objects  of  worship;  and  in 
Deut.  2)^^.  8,  where  we  should  read  "sons  of  God" 
instead  of  "children  of  Israel,"  the  idea  is  apparently 
expressed  that  Jehovah  appointed  "the  sons  of  God" 
or  subordinate  deities  to  rule  over  the  heathen 
nations.  Heathenism  was  thus  a  divinely  established 
fact,  which  the  Jews  were  under  no  obligation  to 
seek  to  alter. 

Others  of  a  more  earnest  and  radical  nature,  how- 
ever, could  not  take  so  indulgent  a  view  of  the 
heathen  world.  They  could  see  in  the  heathen 
nations  only  the  enemies  of  God.  It  was  these  na- 
tions who  constituted  the  chief  obstacle  to  the  estab- 

150 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  WORLD 

lishment  of  the  Messianic  kingdom.  In  the  impend- 
ing judgment,  therefore,  they  would  all  be  destroyed 
(Obad.  15  f. ;  Joel  3.  2  f.).  That  was  the  only  sense 
in  which  they  entered  into  the  divine  plan.  An  East- 
ern Christian,  who  had  just  said  that  God  did  not 
love  the  Turks,  was  asked  why  he  then  made  so 
many  of  them,  and  the  answer  came  back  quick  and 
sharp,  "To  fill  up  hell."  Such  was  also  the  attitude 
of  many  postexilic  Jews  toward  the  heathen  of  their 
day.  And  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  in  this  attitude 
there  was  much  of  moral  earnestness.  It  was  not 
simply  a  narrow  nationalism  or  a  revengeful  spirit 
that  found  expression  in  it.  Many  postexilic  Jews 
were  profoundly  convinced  that  the  heathen  world 
was  the  embodiment  of  evil,  and  that  its  destruction 
was  the  only  thing  consistent  with  the  purpose  of  a 
righteous  Deity.  The  imprecatory  psalms,  for 
instance,  are  to  be  understood  from  this  point  of 
view. 

But  whatever  excuse  or  justification  of  this  hos- 
tile attitude  toward  the  heathen  world  may  be  given, 
it  stood  in  striking  contrast  to  the  spirit  and  teach- 
ing of  Deutero-Isaiah  and  several  of  the  other  post- 
exilic prophets.  As  the  eighth-century  prophets 
moralized  religion,  and  as  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel  a 
century  later  individualized  religion,  so  Deutero- 
Isaiah,  a  little  more  than  half  a  century  later  still, 
universalized  religion.     He,  as  has  been  previously 

151 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

said,  was  the  prophet  of  universalism.  It  was  he 
who  initiated  the  program  of  a  world  religion.  It 
was  he  who  first  drew  from  the  monotheistic  doc- 
trine the  practical  conclusion  that  it  was  Israel's  mis- 
sion to  be  *'a  light  to  the  Gentiles"  and  to  bring  to 
them  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God.  The  whole 
history  of  Israel  he  interpreted  from  this  point  of 
view.  Even  her  sufferings  he  regarded  as  part 
of  the  divine  method  of  winning  the  heathen  world. 
He  represents,  for  instance,  the  heathen  as  saying  of 
Israel,  the  Suffering  Servant :  "He  was  wounded  for 
our  transgressions,  he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities ; 
the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him;  and 
with  his  stripes  we  are  healed"  (Isa.  53.  5).  Israel's 
national  death  was  a  martyrdom  which  would  even- 
tually bring  about  the  redemption  of  the  heathen 
world.  Toward  that  end  everything  in  the  divine 
plan  converged.  Such  was  Deutero-Isaiah's  philoso- 
phy of  history — a  wonderful  conception,  one  that 
may  well  have  stirred  the  heart  of  the  most  ardent 
Hebrew  to  its  profoundest  depth  and  satisfied  his 
highest  aspirations.  Denied  a  place  in  the  sun  in  the 
political  realm,  the  nation  was  here  accorded  an 
opportunity  to  achieve  something  yet  greater — to 
make  its  own  religion  the  world  religion.  No  loftier 
goal  was  ever  set  before  a  people. 

But  the  Israelites  were  slow  and  reluctant  in  their 
response — so  much  so  that  the  author  of  the  book 

152 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  WORLD 

of  Jonah  felt  called  upon  to  rebuke  them.  How 
beautifully  and  impressively  he  did  this  was  pointed 
out  in  a  previous  chapter.  The  heathen,  he  believed, 
stood  ready  to  heed  the  call  to  repentance,  and  the 
arms  of  the  Infinite  were  outstretched  in  tender  wel- 
come to  them.  In  the  book  of  Malachi  there  is  a 
verse  (i.  ii)  which  expresses  an  even  more  gener- 
ous attitude  toward  the  heathen.  It  is  here  said  that 
Jehovah  is  already  worshiped  throughout  the  Gen- 
tile world.  In  every  place  where  incense  is  offered 
to  a  Supreme  Being  it  is  really  offered  to  Jehovah. 
His  name  is  therefore  even  now  "great  among  the 
Gentiles."  But  this  verse  stands  alone  in  the  Old 
Testament  (compare  Acts  lo.  35).  The  universal- 
ism  that  is  expressed  elsewhere  is  a  hope  or  predic- 
tion rather  than  a  present  fact :  it  is  an  event  that  is 
to  be  realized  in  the  great  day  of  Jehovah.  Perhaps 
the  most  remarkable  expression  of  this  universalistic 
hope  in  all  the  Old  Testament  is  that  found  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  Isaiah — a 
passage  written  by  some  unknown  prophet  of  the 
postexilic  period.  Here  not  even  first  place  is 
accorded  Israel  in  the  final  state  of  redemption.  "In 
that  day,"  we  read,  "shall  Israel  be  the  third  with 
Egypt  and  with  Assyria,  a  blessing  in  the  midst  of 
the  earth;  for  that  Jehovah  of  hosts  hath  blessed 
them,  saying.  Blessed  be  Egypt  my  people,  and 
Assyria  the  work  of  my  hands,   and  Israel  mine 

153 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

inheritance"  (verses  24,  25).  Thus  through  the 
faith  and  insight  of  Israel's  inspired  seers  the  way 
was  prepared  for  that  time  when  it  would  be  possible 
to  say  that  "there  is  neither  Greek  nor  Jew,  circum- 
cision nor  uncircumcision,  barbarian,  Scythian,  bond 
nor  free:  but  Christ  is  all,  and  in  all"  (Colossians 
3-  II)- 

Topics  and  Questions  for  Discussion 

What  was  the  relation  of  prophetic  nationalism 
to  individualism? 

The  relation  of  prophetic  nationalism  to  uni- 
versalism. 

What  is  the  logical  relation  of  individualism  and 
universalism  to  each  other? 

What  do  we  learn  from  Judg.  11.  24  and  i  Sam. 
26.  19  concerning  the  early  Israelitic  conception  of 
other  gods  and  Jehovah's  relation  to  them? 

What  was  the  attitude  of  the  early  Israelites  to 
their  neighbors,  and  how  did  this  affect  their  con- 
ception of  Jehovah's  relation  to  the  outside  world  ? 

In  what  respect  did  the  preexilic  prophets  agree 
with  the  popular  view  of  Jehovah's  relation  to 
Israel? 

What  significant  truth  does  Amos  9.  7  teach? 

The  importance  of  Amos  3.  2  and  its  bearing  on 
the  prophet's  conception  of  the  heathen. 

What  was  the  general  attitude  of  the  preexilic 

154 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  WORLD 

prophets  to  the  heathen  world,  and  what  is  the  sig- 
'nificance  of  Isa.  2.  2-4;  Jer.  16.  19,  20;  and  Ezek. 

16.  53-63? 

What  new  rehgious  problem  did  the  Exile  create 
for  the  Israelites  ? 

Why  did  Deutero-Isaiah  lay  so  much  stress  on  the 
sole  Godhead  of  Jehovah?  (Read  Isa.  40-55  and 
mark  the  passages  in  which  this  idea  is  expressed.) 

The  logical  relation  of  monotheism  to  uni- 
versalism. 

What  three  different  attitudes  did  the  monothe- 
istic Jews  take  toward  the  heathen  world  ? 

How  are  Deut.  4.  19  and  32.  8,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  imprecatory  psalms,  on  the  other,  to  be 
understood  ? 

What  very  significant  achievement  is  to  be 
ascribed  to  the  eighth-century  prophets,  to  Jeremiah 
and  Ezekiel,  and  to  Deutero-Isaiah  respectively? 

What  according  to  Isaiah  was  the  mission  of 
Israel,  and  how  was  she  to  fulfill  it? 

The  teaching  of  the  book  of  Jonah,  of  Mai.  i.  11, 
and  of  Isa.  19.  23-25. 

Bibliography 

The  Religious  Ideas  of  the  Old  Testament,  by 
H.  W^  Robinson  (pages  206-11). 

The  Social  Teachings  of  the  Prophets  and  Jesus, 
by  C.  F.  Kent  (pages  117-40). 

155 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEAIEXT    IN    ISRAEL 

National  Ideals  in  the  Old  Testament,  by  H.  J. 
Cadbury  (pages  196-205,  217-23,  251-61). 

The  Religious  Teaching  of  the  Old  Testament, 
by  A.  C.  Knudson  (pages  131-34,  185-88,  370-71). 


156 


CHAPTER  X 

PROPHECY  AND  THE  FUTURE 

It  was  pointed  out  in  the  first  chapter  that 
prophecy  is  not  identical  with  prediction.  The 
prophets  were  primarily  preachers.  This  con- 
clusion has  been  confirmed  by  our  entire  study.  We 
have  seen  how,  throughout  the  whole  of  Israel's  his- 
tory, the  prophets  were  always  concerned  with  the 
needs  of  their  own  day.  In  one  case  it  might  be  the 
need  of  armed  resistance  to  the  enemy,  as  in  the 
times  of  Deborah,  of  Samuel,  and  of  the  Maccabees. 
In  another  instance  it  might  be  the  need  of  quiet 
trust  in  God  and  submission,  if  necessary,  to  the 
enemy,  as  in  the  time  of  Isaiah  and  of  Jeremiah. 
At  one  time  it  was  rebuke  that  was  most  needed,  at 
another  time  encouragement.  Under  certain  circum- 
stances it  was  the  worthlessness  of  ceremonialism 
that  needed  to  be  emphasized;  under  other  circum- 
stances it  was  the  importance  of  the  Temple  and  the 
Temple  service.  To  these  variations  in  the  condi- 
tions and  needs  of  the  people  the  prophets  adapted 
themselves.  Whatever  their  own  times  demanded, 
that  demand  they  sought  to  meet.  And  what  distin- 
guished them  from  their  contemporaries  was  not  so 

157 


\ 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

much  their  superior  insight  into  the  future  as  their 
superior  insight  into  the  needs  of  the  present.  They 
had  themselves  no  interest  whatsoever  in  being 
known  simply  as  clairvoyants — as  men  possessed  of 
the  mystic  power  of  peering  into  the  future.  Indeed, 
such  a  conception  of  their  mission  would  have  been 
altogether  repugnant  to  the  great  prophets.  They 
were  profoundly  serious  men,  and  as  such  what  pri- 
marily interested  them  was  the  grim  realities  of  the 
present.  The  future  in  so  far  as  it  was  unrelated  to 
the  pressing  needs  of  their  own  day  was  to  them  a 
mere  matter  of  idle  curiosity.  Soothsayers  might 
busy  themselves  with  it,  but  they,  as  earnest  men, 
could  not.  What  they  were  alone  concerned  with 
was  to  induce  their  contemporaries  to  do  the  thing 
that  at  that  time  most  needed  to  be  done.  And 
this,  it  may  be  added,  is  the  characteristic  of  the 
true  prophet  of  every  age. 

But  while  all  this  is  true  and  of  fundamental 
importance,  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that 
the  prophets  had  no  interest  in  the  future.  All  peo- 
ple have  some  interest  in  it,  and  what  gives  to  the 
present  its  seriousness  and  sanctity  is  its  significance 
for  the  future.  No  earnest  man  is  indifferent  to  the 
things  that  are  to  be;  and  the  more  earnest  he  is, 
the  greater  his  interest  in  them  is  likely  to  be.  As 
unusually  serious-minded  men,  therefore,  the 
prophets  would  naturally  deal  more  or  less  with  the 

158 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  FUTURE 

future.  But  they  had  a  more  special  interest  in  it 
than  that.  It  was  their  particular  function  to  reveal 
the  hidden  will  of  God,  and  this  necessarily  involved 
to  some  extent  a  disclosure  of  the  future  course  of 
events.  "Surely,"  says  Amos,  *'the  Lord  Jehovah 
will  do  nothing,  except  he  reveal  his  secret  unto  his 
servants  the  prophets"  (3.  7).  More  so,  conse- 
quently, than  "wise  men"  or  priests,  the  prophets 
had  it  as  their  task  to  interpret  the  divine  will  in  so 
far  as  it  had  to  do  with  the  future.  This  was  a  con- 
stituent and  distinctive  element  in  their  mission. 
They  lived  under  the  constant  pressure  of  impend- 
ing events. 

Specific  predictions. — Occasionally  the  canonical 
or  literary  prophets  made  specific  predictions.  Jere- 
miah, for  instance,  predicted  the  seventy-years  cap- 
tivity (25.  11;  29.  10).  He  predicted  the  death  of 
the  false  prophet  Hananiah  within  a  year  (28.  16). 
He  also  predicted  that  the  Egyptians  would  not  save 
Jerusalem  from  capture  at  the  hands  of  the  Chal- 
deans (37.  6-10).  Isaiah,  likewise,  predicted  that 
the  kings  of  Syria  and  Ephraim  would  not  succeed 
in  capturing  Jerusalem  (7.  3-9).  He  predicted  that 
these  two  northern  kingdoms  would  before  long  be 
overrun  by  the  Assyrians  (8.  3,  4).  And  at  a  critical 
juncture  in  Judah's  history  be  confidently  declared 
in  the  face  of  the  most  general  contrary  expectation 
that  Sennacherib  would  never  again  lay  siege  to  the 

159 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

•capital  city.  All  these  predictions  were  fulfilled,  and 
their  fulfillment  no  doubt  made  a  considerable 
impression  upon  the  public  mind.  But  the  impres- 
sion was  only  temporary.  No  permanent  contribu- 
tion to  the  religious  thought  or  faith  of  the  people 
was  thus  made.  Predictions  similar  to  those  just 
mentioned  have  not  infrequently  been  made  and  ful- 
filled in  the  course  of  the  world's  history.  A  few 
years  ago  at  about  Christmas  time  the  city  of  Mes- 
sina was  destroyed  by  an  earthquake.  Four  or  five 
months  before  the  catastrophe  one  of  those  wander- 
ing religious  fanatics  whom  the  Italians  call  "Naza- 
renes"  appeared  in  the  city  and,  gathering  groups  of 
people  about  him  at  the  busiest  street  corners, 
addressed  them  in  these  words:  "Be  warned,  take 
heed  and  repent,  ye  men  of  Messina!  This  year 
shall  not  end  before  your  city  is  utterly  destroyed." 
The  fulfillment  of  this  and  similar  predictions,  how- 
ever, had  no  special  religious  significance.  And  so 
it  was  with  the  specific  predictions  of  the  prophets 
except  in  so  far  as  they  were  related  to  their  positive 
teaching. 

It  should  also  be  noted  that  these  predictions, 
although  made  in  unconditional  terms,  were  usually 
understood  to  be  conditional  in  character.  Micah, 
for  instance,  predicted  in  unqualified  terms  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  (3.  12)  ;  but  in  the  book 
of  Jeremiah,  written  a  century  later,  we  read  that 

160 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  FUTURE 

Hezekiah  repented,  and  hence  the  city  was  spared 
(26.  17-19).  Ezekiel's  prediction  that  Tyre  would 
be  captured  by  Nebuchadrezzar  was  also  not  ful- 
filled (29.  17-20).  And  in  the  story  of  Jonah  it  is 
related  that  the  prophet  announced  unconditionally 
the  destruction  of  Nineveh,  but  the  people  repented, 
and  hence  the  city  was  saved  (3.  4,  10).  In  view 
of  such  facts  as  these  one  of  the  greatest  of  the 
early  church  fathers,  Jerome,  declared  that  the 
prophetic  predictions  were  not  made  that  they  should 
be  fulfilled  but  that  they  should  not  be  fulfilled. 
That  is,  they  were  in  the  nature  of  warnings.  Their 
fulfillment  or  nonfulfillment  was  consequently  not  a 
matter  of  special  importance  and  does  not  seriously 
affect  the  authority  of  the  prophets. 

The  day  of  Jehovah  and  the  Messianic  hope. — 
The  important  thing  in  the  teaching  of  the  prophets 
relative  to  the  future  was  not  their  specific  predic- 
tions but  their  general  conception  of  what  the  future 
course  of  events  would  be.  And  to  understand  the 
prophets  at  this  point  we  need  to  recall  the  ancient 
belief  in  a  series  of  world  cycles.  This  was  a  wide- 
spread belief.  We  find  it  in  all  the  great  nations 
with  whom  the  ancient  Hebrews  came  into  contact. 
According  to  this  belief,  there  was  a  world  year,  or 
cycle,  embracing  thousands  of  our  years — twelve 
thousand,  according  to  the  Persians.  During  this 
cycle  the  world  passed  through  a  period  of  develop- 

161 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

ment  and  decline,  coming  at  the  end  of  the  period 
into  a  condition  similar  to  that  with  which  it  began. 
The  same  process  was  then  repeated,  and  so  on 
through  the  endless  ages.  There  was  no  progress, 
no  permanent  development,  but  simply  a  ceaseless 
repetition  of  the  past ;  so  that  one  contemplating  the 
series  as  a  whole  would  naturally  say :  "That  which 
hath  been  is  that  which  shall  be ;  and  that  which  hath 
been  done  is  that  which  shall  be  done :  and  there 
is  no  new  thing  under  the  sun"  (Eccl.  1.9). 

With  this  belief  the  Hebrews  probably  came  into 
contact  early  in  their  history.  But  they  never  accepted 
it;  they  reacted  against  it.  For  one  thing,  it  came 
into  conflict  with  their  native  optimism.  It  gave 
them  no  hopeful  outlook.  The  future  was  simply 
to  repeat  the  past;  and  this  view  naturally  led  to  dis- 
couragement and  despair.  Then,  too,  the  belief  in  a 
series  of  world  cycles  was  out  of  harmony  with  such 
a  thoroughgoing  belief  in  the  personality  of  God  as 
that  held  by  the  Hebrews.  A  person  cannot  be  con- 
tent to  do  the  same  thing  over  and  over  again  with- 
out achieving  some  end.  He  must  have  a  goal 
toward  which  he  can  work.  A  Deity  who  is  a  real 
Person  and  not  a  mechanism  cannot  therefore  be 
thought  of  as  creating  one  world  cycle  after  another 
through  the  endless  aeons  of  time;  he  must  have  an 
objective,  a  goal  to  be  attained.  So  the  Hebrews 
substituted  for  the  common  ancient  belief  in  a  series 

162 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  FUTURE 

of  world  cycles  the  great  belief  in  a  day  of  Jehovah. 
According  to  this  belief  the  present  world  cycle 
would  come  to  an  end,  as  the  heathen  believed.  But 
when  it  came  to  an  end,  the  old  process  would  not 
be  repeated ;  instead  there  would  be  established  a  new 
and  eternal  world  order,  over  all  of  which  Jehovah 
would  directly  rule.  This  in  some  respects  was  the 
most  characteristic  element  in  Hebrew  thought. 

When  the  belief  in  the  day  of  Jehovah  originated 
we  do  not  know.  It  was  current  in  the  time  of 
Amos  (5.  18-20)  and  may  have  arisen  several  cen- 
turies earlier.  At  first  it  was  no  doubt  a  rather 
vague  belief,  involving  perhaps  more  or  less  of  the 
mythological.  In  so  far  as  it  was  current  among  the 
poor  and  oppressed  it  awakened  the  hope  that  exist- 
ing evils  would  before  long  be  righted.  But  it  espe- 
cially stimulated  among  the  people  national  feeling. 
It  led  them  to  expect  that  in  some  marvelous  way 
Jehovah  would  eventually  intervene  on  their  behalf^ 
overwhelm  their  enemies,  and  make  them  the  domi- 
nant race  in  the  world. 

This  popular  belief  formed  the  background  of 
the  prophetic  conception  of  the  future.  The  prophets; 
did  not  reject  the  idea  of  a  "day  of  Jehovah" ;  they 
accepted  it.  But  they  moralized  it  and  made  it  more 
definite.  The  earlier  popular  belief  probably  in- 
cluded the  idea  of  a  personal  Messiah.  The  day  of 
Jehovah  was  to  be  inaugurated  by  him.     There  is 

163 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

an  early  reference  to  such  a  belief  in  Gen.  49.  10- 
12.  But  the  literary  prophets  made  it  much  more 
prominent.  Hence,  their  conception  of  the  future 
is  commonly  spoken  of  as  "the  Messianic  hope." 
This  does  not  mean  that  they  all  believed  in  the  com- 
ing of  a  personal  Messiah,  or  that  they  regarded 
such  a  leader  as  essential  to  the  establishment  of  the 
new  kingdom;  in  many  prophetic  pictures  of  the 
better  future  Jehovah  alone  appears  as  King.  But  in 
others  the  personal  Messiah  is  so  prominent  that  his 
name  has  come  to  be  applied  to  the  kingdom  as  well 
as  the  King.  The  term  "Messianic"  thus  has  both 
a  broader  and  a  narrower  meaning.  In  the  broader 
sense  it  designates  the  new  age  without  any  neces- 
sary reference  to  the  Messianic  King;  and  in  this 
sense  the  Messianic  hope  is  simply  a  continuation  of 
the  earlier  belief  in  the  day  of  Jehovah,  a  spiritual- 
ization  and  development  of  it.  The  same  may  also 
be  said  of  the  later  as  compared  with  the  earher 
belief  in  a  personal  Messiah.  It  represents  a  more 
highly  developed  and  more  completely  moralized 
form  of  the  belief. 

The  judgment. — In  the  Messianic  hope  we  may 
distinguish  four  different  elements :  the  idea  of  a 
judgment,  of  a  new  age,  of  the  redemption  of  Israel, 
and  of  a  personal  Messiah.  Of  these  the  second  and 
third  are  so  closely  related  to  each  other  that  it  will 
be  best  to  consider  them  together.     The  idea  of  a 

164 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  FUTURE 

judgment  is  one  that  we  have  frequently  referred  to. 
It  was  the  outstanding  theme  of  the  preexiHc  literary- 
prophets.  Before  their  time  it  had  its  place  in  the 
popular  belief;  but  the  judgment  then  expected  was 
one  upon  foreign  nations  rather  than  upon  Israel. 
The  enemies  of  Israel  were  to  be  destroyed,  but 
Israel  herself  would  escape.  To  her  the  day  of 
Jehovah  would  be  a  day  of  light,  and  not  of  dark- 
ness. The  early  "preprophetic"  belief  in  a  divine 
judgment  was  thus  strongly  nationalistic.  It  con- 
tained no  distinctly  ethical  element.  It  was  at  the 
best  nonmoral  and  at  times,  no  doubt,  immoral.  But 
all  this  was  changed  by  the  literary  prophets.  They 
did  not  deny  that  doom  would  fall  upon  the  hostile 
heathen  nations;  they  reasserted  it.  But  it  would 
fall,  they  insisted,  with  equal  and  even  greater  cer- 
tainty upon  Israel  herself.  The  judgment,  as  they 
conceived  it,  was  to  be  thoroughly  moral.  It  was 
not  to  be  the  work  of  a  partisan  national  Deity  but 
of  the  impartial  Judge  of  all  peoples.  At  any  rate, 
this  was  the  prophetic  ideal.  That  some  of  the  liter- 
ary prophets,  such  as  Nahum,  Obadiah,  and  Joel, 
were  influenced  in  their  conception  of  the  coming 
judgment  by  national  or  racial  feeling  can  hardly 
be  denied.  Indeed,  most  of  the  postexilic  prophets 
were  inclined  to  take  a  more  indulgent  attitude 
toward  the  sins  of  Israel  than  toward  those  of  other 
nations. 

165 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

Exactly  how  the  judgment  was  to  be  carried  out 
is  not  perfectly  clear.  Much  is  said  about  foreign 
invasion  and  exile.  But  many  other  forms  of  judg- 
ment are  also  spoken  of.  There  is  earthquake  and 
pestilence  and  famine  and  drought  (Amos.  2.  13  ff . ; 
6.  9,  10;  4.  6  ff. ;  8.  13).  Almost  every  known  form 
of  public  calamity  is  mentioned.  Rosea  summons 
death  and  Sheol  to  pour  out  their  plagues  (13.  14). 
And  the  tendency,  especially  from  the  time  of 
Zephaniah  on,  was  to  paint  the  picture  of  the  day 
of  wrath  in  darker  and  darker  colors.  It  was  to  be 
a  day  of  vague  and  unheard  of  terrors  and  of  inde- 
scribable gloom.  This  tendency  was  a  prominent 
characteristic  of  the  apocalyptic  type  of  thought. 

The  new  age  and  redemption  of  Israel. — The 
judgment  of  the  world,  according  to  the  prophets, 
would  be  followed  by  the  redemption  of  Israel  and 
the  new  age.  As  virtually  nothing  is  said  of  the  new 
age  independently  of  a  redeemed  Israel,  these  two 
ideas  really  go  together.  In  the  "preprophetic" 
period  the  coming  judgment,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
regarded  as  virtually  equivalent  to  the  triumph  of 
Israel  over  her  enemies.  Her  redemption  at  that 
time,  therefore,  meant  simply  freedom  from  such 
hardship  and  oppression  as  she  was  then  subject  to; 
and  the  new  age  meant  a  period  of  such  abundant 
prosperity  as  the  national  triumph  and  the  divine 
favor  would  naturally  guarantee.     Later  the  idea 

166 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  FUTURE 

most  prominent  in  the  popular  conception  of  Israel's 
redemption  was  that  of  deliverance  from  exile.  But 
in  general  her  redemption  meant  simply  release  from 
such  evil  conditions  as  she  at  any  particular  time 
happened  to  be  living  under;  and  the  new  age  meant 
an  ideal  state  of  affairs,  especially  from  the  economic 
and  political  points  of  view. 

This  popular  expectation  of  a  glorious  future  of 
unexampled  prosperity  for  Israel  the  prophets  did 
not  reject.  They  reaffirmed  it.  But  they  added  as 
conditions  of  its  realization  ethical  requirements  that 
were  new.  Present  Israel,  they  held,  could  hope  for 
no  such  future.  It  was  morally  unprepared  for  it. 
Before  it  could  be  ready,  it  must  pass  through  the 
purging  fires  of  judgment  (Isa.  i.  21-26).  The 
dross  must  be  consumed,  and  the  nation  left  a  mor- 
ally purified  people.  They  will  then  be  a  mere  rem- 
nant of  what  they  now  are,  but  they  will  be  a 
people  redeemed  in  heart  as  well  as  in  their  outward 
condition.  So  much  stress  was  laid  by  the  prophets 
on  this  ethical  factor  in  redemption  that  under  their 
influence  redemption  came  to  be  thought  of  as  pri- 
marily a  moral  or  spiritual  matter.  It  came  to  mean 
redemption  from  sin  rather  than  from  misery.  The 
moral  element  in  life  thus  came  to  be  accorded  the 
primacy.  It  came  to  be  regarded  as  the  chief  good 
in  the  Messianic  age.  The  new  kingdom  was  to  be 
first  of  all  a  kingdom  of  righteousness.    Those  who 

167 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

dwell  therein  "shall  be  all  righteous,"  regenerate  in 
life,  imbued  with  the  divine  spirit,  and  with  the  law 
of  God  written  upon  their  hearts  (Isa.  60.  21 ;  Ezek. 
36.  25-27;  Jer.  31.  31-34). 

There  is  one  instance  in  which  the  redeemed  rem- 
nant is  represented  as  ''an  afflicted  and  poor  people," 
trusting  only  in  the  name  of  Jehovah  (Zeph.  3.  12). 
But  the  general  prophetic  representation  of  Israel's 
future  is  the  popular  one  above  described.  There  is 
to  be  universal  peace  under  the  leadership  of  Israel 
(Isa.  60.  10-14;  2.  2-4).  Even  the  strife  between 
man  and  beast  is  to  cease  (Hos.  2.  18;  Isa.  11.  6,  8). 
The  soil  is  to  become  supernaturally  productive 
(Amos  9.  13),  and  the  new  Jerusalem  is  to  be  a  city 
of  dazzling  beauty  (Isa.  54.  11,  12).  Such  pictures 
of  the  future  as  these  may  at  first  give  the  impression 
that  the  prophets  took  a  rather  materialistic  view  of 
human  life,  that  they  stressed  unduly  its  out- 
ward conditions.  But  in  this  connection  it  is  im- 
portant to  bear  in  mind,  what  has  already  been 
pointed  out,  that  the  richness  and  beauty  of  the 
external  world  had  more  than  an  economic  and  sen- 
suous significance  to  the  devout  Hebrew.  They  had 
for  him  a  sacramental  character  and  symbolized  to 
him  the  divine  Presence.  The  glories  of  the  new 
age  made  the  world  to  him  a  sanctuary,  so  that  he 
could  only  say,  ''J^^ovah  is  there"  (Ezek.  48.  35). 
And  that  this  spiritual  interpretation  of  material 

168 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  FUTURE 

prosperity  was  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  the 
prophets  is  evident  not  only  from  their  general 
ethical  standpoint  but  from  specific  statements  here 
and  there.  The  external  world  in  their  thought  was 
quite  secondary.  It  had  no  intrinsic  worth  and  at 
times  is  represented  as  destined  eventually  to  disap- 
pear (Isa.  60.  19;  51.  6). 

The  personal  Messiah. — The  idea  of  a  personal 
Messiah  was  more  prominent,  as  we  have  already 
stated,  in  prophetic  than  in  "preprophetic"  thought; 
but  it  was  not  so  prominent  in  prophetic  teaching  as 
in  later  Christian  belief.  Christians  make  the  Mes- 
siah the  essential  condition  of  the  realization  of  the 
Messianic  kingdom.  His  is  the  only  name  given 
among  men  whereby  we  may  be  saved.  But  in  the 
prophetic  teaching  concerning  redemption  there  is 
often  no  reference  to  the  Messiah;  Jehovah  is  rep- 
resented as  the  sole  agent  in  bringing  in  the  new  era. 
There  are,  however,  several  important  passages  that 
are  Messianic  in  the  narrow  sense  of  the  term; 
and  in  these  we  find  three  different  conceptions  of 
the  Messiah  or  the  personal  agent  through  whom  the 
kingdom  of  God  is  to  be  established  on  earth.  The 
first  and  most  common  represents  him  as  an  ideal 
king  (Isa.  9.  2-y;  11.  1-5;  32.  1-8;  Mic.  5.  2-6;  Jen 
2^.  5,  6;  Ezek.  37.  24-28;  Hag.  2.  20-23;  Zech.  3.  8- 
10;  6.  9-15).  As  such  he  was  usually  thought  of  as 
of  Davidic  descent.    But  the  important  thing  in  con- 

169 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

nection  with  him  was  the  absolute  righteousness  of 
his  character  and  rule.  He  even  bears  the  name 
**Jehovah  our  righteousness/*  by  which  it  is  meant 
that  he  is  not  only  righteous  himself  but  makes  his 
people  righteous  (Jer.  23.  6). 

The  second  and  highest  conception  of  the  Messiah 
is  that  of  the  Suffering  Servant  (Isa.  52.  13  to  53. 
12).  Here  Israel  is  idealized  and  transformed  into 
a  Messianic  figure.  The  important  thing  in  this  rep- 
resentation is  not  the  future  glory  of  the  Servant 
but  his  present  suffering.  This  suffering  is  vicarious 
and  redemptive,  endured  for  the  sake  of  the  world 
as  a  whole.  No  passage  in  all  the  Old  Testament 
impressed  Jesus  more  profoundly  than  this  one.  The 
third  prophetic  conception  of  the  Messiah,  it  is  evi- 
dent, also  appealed  strongly  to  him.  It  is  that  of 
the  Son  of  Man,  or  "one  like  unto  a  son  of  man" 
(Dan.  7.  13  f.).  This  Being  is  to  come  with  the 
clouds  of  heaven;  and  universal  and  everlasting 
dominion  is  to  be  given  him.  In  the  thought  of  the 
prophet  or  apocalyptist  he  was  apparently  identified 
with  the  "glorified  and  ideal  people  of  Israel"  (7.  18, 
22^  27),  but  later  he  came  to  be  thought  of  as  an 
individual.  And  the  striking  and  most  original  thing 
in  Jesus'  conception  of  his  own  mission  and  destiny 
is  that  he  combined  in  it  the  idea  of  the  Son  of  Man 
"sv'ith  that  of  the  Suffering  Servant. 

The  destiny  of  the  individual. — In  our  study  thus 

170 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  FUTURE 

far  of  the  prophetic  outlook  into  the  future  we  have 
said  nothing  about  the  ultimate  destiny  of  the  indi- 
vidual. This  was  a  subject  to  which  the  prophets 
devoted  surprisingly  little  attention.  But  it  was  a 
subject  that  in  the  course  of  time  they  could  not 
wholly  avoid.  However  glorious  Israel's  future 
might  be,  it  could  not  permanently  satisfy  the  needs 
of  the  individual.  To  meet  these  needs  it  was  at  first 
stated  that  there  would  be  a  miraculous  prolongation 
of  human  life  in  the  new  age  (Isa.  65.  20-22) ;  and 
when  this  proved  insufficient,  it  was  declared  that 
death  itself  would  there  be  abolished  (Isa.  25.  8). 
But  even  so  the  individual  was  not  satisfied;  for 
many  faithful  souls  would  pass  away  before  the  com- 
ing of  the  Messianic  kingdom.  Hence,  we  are  told 
in  two  notable  passages  that  there  is  to  be  a  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead  (Isa.  26.  19;  Dan.  12.  2).  The 
faithful  who  have  been  taken  away  will  be  raised 
up  to  share  in  the  glories  of  the  new  day. 

The  resurrection  here  referred  to,  however,  was 
not  to  be  a  universal  one.  It  did  not  apply  to  the 
righteous  everywhere ;  it  embraced  at  the  most  only 
Israelites  and  perhaps  only  special  classes  of  them. 
The  stamp  of  incompleteness  thus  rests  upon  this 
aspect  of  the  teaching  of  the  prophets.  And  this  also 
may  be  said  to  be  the  case  with  their  teaching  as  a 
whole.  Wonderful  and  incomparable  as  it  is,  re- 
vealing everywhere  the  guiding  hand  of  the  divine 

171 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

Spirit,  it  still  did  not  succeed  in  wholly  extricating 
itself  from  its  particularistic  and  nationalistic  entan- 
glements ;  it  remained  in  spite  of  itself  bound  to  this 
earth  and  to  a  particular  people.  Before  it  could 
become  a  religion  for  all  peoples,  a  religion  for  both 
time  and  eternity,  it  needed  the  quickening  touch  of 
One  greater  than  a  prophet.  It  needed  to  be  incar- 
nated in  a  supreme  Person  who  could  say  of  himself, 
'*!  am  the  way,  and  the  truth,  and  the  life."  Despite 
all  the  greatness  of  the  Old  Testament  prophets  it 
was  Jesus  who  "brought  life  and  immortality  to 

light." 

Topics  and  Questions  for  Discussion 

Show  by  specific  illustrations  how  the  prophets 
addressed  themselves  to  the  needs  of  their  own  day 
and  adjusted  their  message  to  the  circumstances  of 
their  own  time. 

The  prophet's  relation  to  the  future  as  distin- 
guished from  the  soothsayer,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  "wise  man"  and  priest,  on  the  other. 

Explain  the  early  and  widespread  belief  in  a  series 
of  world  cycles.  Show  why  the  Hebrews  reacted 
against  this  belief. 

How  did  the  Hebrew  belief  in  a  day  of  Jehovah 
differ  from  the  heathen  belief  in  a  series  of  world 
cycles  ? 

When  did  the  belief  in  the  day  of  Jehovah  arise, 

172 


^ 


PROPHECY  AND  THE  FUTURE 

and  what  was  its  relation  to  the  ''Messianic  hope" 
of  the  prophets? 

Indicate  the  four  different  elements  in  the  Mes- 
sianic hope. 

How  did  the  prophetic  conception  of  the  coming 
judgment  differ  from  the  earlier  popular  view,  and 
under  what  form  did  the  prophets  think  of  the  judg- 
ment as  coming? 

Show  how  the  prophets  moralized  the  popular 
conception  of  Israel's  redemption. 

How  does  Zeph.  3.  12  differ  from  other  prophetic 
pictures  of  the  future?  (Look  up  passages  illustra- 
tive of  the  common  prophetic  view.) 

Why  did  the  prophets  lay  so  much  stress  upon  the 
material  prosperity  and  external  glory  of  the  new 
age  ?    Were  they  materialistic  ? 

How  did  the  place  of  the  Messiah  in  prophetic 
thought  differ  from  his  place  in  ''preprophetic"  and 
Christian  thought  ? 

What  are  the  chief  passages  describing  the  Mes- 
siah as  an  ideal  king,  and  what  are  the  points  empha- 
sized in  these  descriptions? 

Under  what  two  significant  forms  is  the  Messiah 
depicted  in  Isa.  53  and  in  Dan.  7.  13  ff.? 

Why  did  the  prophets  devote  so  little  attention 
to  the  destiny  of  the  individual? 

What  special  interest  attaches  to  Isa.  65.  20-22; 
25.  8;  26.  19;  Dan.  12.  2? 

173 


THE    PROPHETIC    MOVEMENT    IN    ISRAEL 

In  what  respects  was  the  prophetic  teaching  incom- 
plete ? 

Bibliography 

The  Religious  Ideas  of  the  Old  Testament,  by  H. 
W.  Robinson  (pages  184-206,  91-101). 

National  Ideals  in  the  Old  Testament,  by  H.  J. 
Cadbury  (pages  239-50). 

The  Social  Teachings  of  the  Prophets  and  Jesus, 
by  C.  F.  Kent  (pages  107-16). 

The  Religious  Teaching  of  the  Old  Testament,  by 
A.  C.  Knudson  (pages  351-408). 


174 


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